disgrace, but the personal presence of the Messiah is to change that (45:17;

disgrace, but the personal presence of the Messiah is to change that (45:17;

FUTURE RECOVERY OF WISDOM

17Is it not yet a very little while Till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, And the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest? 18In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. 19The humble also shall increase their joy in the LORD, And the poor among men shall rejoice In the Holy One of Israel. 20For the terrible one is brought to nothing, The scornful one is consumed, And all who watch for iniquity are cut off— 21Who make a man an offender by a word, And lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, And turn aside the just by empty words.

22Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

29:22 redeemed Abraham. God delivered Abraham from his pagan background when He brought him from beyond the Euphrates River into the land of Canaan (Josh. 24:2, 3). Paul elaborates on this theme in Romans 4:1– 22. not now be ashamed. Israel in her history had frequently suffered disgrace, but the personal presence of the Messiah is to change that (45:17; 49:23; 50:7; 54:4). After the salvation of Israel in the end time, the children of Jacob will no longer cause their forefathers to blush over their wickedness.

"Jacob shall not now be ashamed, Nor shall his face now grow pale; 23But when he sees his children, The work of My hands, in his midst,

They will hallow My name, And hallow the Holy One of Jacob, And fear the God of Israel. 24These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, And those who complained will learn doctrine."

Next September 19 Reading

Isaiah 30

September 20

I SAIAH 30:1–32:20

FUTILE CONFIDENCE IN EGYPT

1"Woe to the rebellious children," says the LORD,

30:1 not of Me…not of My Spirit. Hezekiah's advisers urged him to turn to the Egyptians, not to God, for help against the invading Assyrians. Isaiah denounced this reliance on Egypt rather than God, who had forbidden such alliances.

"Who take counsel, but not of Me, And who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, That they may add sin to sin; 2Who walk to go down to Egypt, And have not asked My advice, To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, And to trust in the shadow of Egypt! 3Therefore the strength of Pharaoh Shall be your shame, And trust in the shadow of Egypt Shall be your humiliation. 4For his princes were at Zoan, And his ambassadors came to Hanes. 5They were all ashamed of a people who could not benefit them, Or be help or benefit, But a shame and also a reproach."

6The burden against the beasts of the South.

Through a land of trouble and anguish, From which came the lioness and lion, The viper and fiery flying serpent, They will carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys,

And their treasures on the humps of camels, To a people who shall not profit; 7For the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose.

Therefore I have called her Rahab-Hem-Shebeth.a

REBELLIOUS PEOPLE

8Now go, write it before them on a tablet, And note it on a scroll, That it may be for time to come, Forever and ever: 9That this is a rebellious people, Lying children, Children who will not hear the law of the LORD; 10Who say to the

seers, "Do not see," And to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. 11Get out of the way, Turn aside from the path, Cause the Holy One of Israel To cease from before us."

12Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:

"Because you despise this word, And trust in oppression and perversity, And rely on them, 13Therefore this iniquity shall be to you Like a breach ready to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant. 14And He shall break it like the breaking of the potter's vessel, Which is broken in pieces; He shall not spare. So there shall not be found among its fragments A shard to take fire from the hearth, Or to take water from the cistern."

15For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: "In returning and rest you shall be saved;

In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." But you would not, 16And you said, "No, for we will flee on horses"— Therefore you shall flee! And, "We will ride on swift horses"—

Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift!

17One thousand shall flee at the threat of one, At the threat of five you shall flee, Till you are left as a pole on top of a mountain And as a banner on a hill.

GOD WILL BE GRACIOUS

18Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him.

19For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; When He hears it, He will answer you. 20And though the Lord gives you The bread of adversity and the water of affliction, Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, But your eyes shall see your teachers. 21Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left. 22You will also defile the covering of your images of silver, And the ornament of your molded images of gold. You will throw them away as an unclean thing; You will say to them, "Get away!"

23Then He will give the rain for your seed With which you sow the ground, And bread of the increase of the earth; It will be fat and plentiful. In that day your cattle will feed In large pastures. 24Likewise the oxen and the young donkeys that work the ground Will eat cured fodder, Which has been winnowed with the shovel and fan. 25There will be on every high mountain And on every high hill Rivers and streams of waters, In the day of the great slaughter, When the towers fall. 26Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, And the light of the sun will be sevenfold, As the light of seven days, In the day that the LORD binds up the bruise of His people And heals the

stroke of their wound.

JUDGMENT ON ASSYRIA

27Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar, Burning with His anger, And His burden is heavy; His lips are full of indignation, And His tongue like a devouring fire. 28His breath is like an overflowing stream, Which reaches up to the neck, To sift the nations with the sieve of futility; And there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, Causing them to err.

29You shall have a song As in the night when a holy festival is kept, And gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute, To come into the mountain of the LORD, To the Mighty One of Israel. 30The LORD will cause His glorious voice to be heard, And show the descent of His arm, With the indignation of His anger And the flame of a devouring fire, With scattering, tempest, and hailstones. 31For through the voice of the LORD Assyria will be beaten down, As He strikes with the rod. 32And in every place where the staff of punishment passes, Which the LORD lays on him, It will be with tambourines and harps; And in battles of brandishing He will fight with it. 33For Tophet was established of old,

30:33 Tophet. Literally, a place of abomination. Idolatrous Israel had burned to death human victims in this valley just south of Jerusalem, an area sometimes called the Valley of Hinnom (2 Kin. 23:10; Jer. 19:6). Later it became known as Gehenna, the place of refuse for the city, with constantly burning fires, symbolizing hell. The defeat was to be so complete that the fire burns

continually.

Yes, for the king it is prepared. He has made it deep and large; Its pyre is fire with much wood; The breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, Kindles it.

Isaiah 31

THE FOLLY OF NOT TRUSTING GOD

1Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, And rely on horses, Who trust in chariots because they are many, And in horsemen because they are very strong, But who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, Nor seek the LORD! 2Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster, And will not call back His words, But will arise against the house of evildoers, And against the help of those who work iniquity. 3Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; And their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out His hand, Both he who helps will fall, And he who is helped will fall down; They all will perish together.

GOD WILL DELIVER JERUSALEM

4For thus the LORD has spoken to me: "As a lion roars, And a young lion over his prey (When a multitude of shepherds is summoned against him, He will not be afraid of their voice Nor be disturbed by their noise), So the LORD of hosts will come down To fight for Mount Zion and for its hill. 5Like birds flying about, So will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem. Defending, He will also deliver it; Passing over, He will preserve it."

6Return to Him against whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted. 7For in that day every man shall throw away his idols of silver and his idols of gold— sin, which your own hands have made for yourselves.

8"Then Assyria shall fall by a sword not of man, And a sword not of mankind shall devour him. But he shall flee from the sword, And his young men shall become forced labor. 9He shall cross over to his stronghold for fear, And his princes shall be afraid of the banner," Says the LORD, Whose fire is in Zion And whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 32

A REIGN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

1Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, And princes will rule with justice. 2A man will be as a hiding place from the wind, And a cover from the tempest, As rivers of water in a dry place, As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. 3The eyes of those who see will not be dim, And the ears of those who hear will listen. 4Also the heart of the rash will understand knowledge, And the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly.

5The foolish person will no longer be called generous, Nor the miser said to be bountiful; 6For the foolish person will speak foolishness, And his heart will work iniquity: To practice ungodliness, To utter error against the LORD, To keep the hungry unsatisfied, And he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. 7Also the schemes of the schemer are evil; He devises wicked plans To destroy the poor with lying words, Even when the needy speaks justice. 8But a generous man devises generous things, And by generosity he shall stand.

CONSEQUENCES OF COMPLACENCY

9Rise up, you women who are at ease, Hear my voice; You complacent daughters, Give ear to my speech. 10In a year and some days You will be troubled, you complacent women; For the vintage will fail, The gathering will not come. 11Tremble, you women who are at ease; Be troubled, you complacent ones; Strip yourselves, make yourselves bare, And gird sackcloth on your waists.

12People shall mourn upon their breasts For the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. 13On the land of my people will come up thorns and briers, Yes, on all the happy homes in the joyous city; 14Because the palaces will be forsaken, The bustling city will be deserted. The forts and towers will become lairs forever, A joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks— 15Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, And the fruitful field is counted as a forest.

THE PEACE OF GOD'S REIGN

16Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, And righteousness remain in the fruitful field. 17The work of righteousness will be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. 18My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, In secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places, 19Though hail comes down on the forest, And the city is brought low in humiliation.

20Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, Who send out freely the feet of the ox and the donkey.

Next September 20 Reading

Isaiah 33

September 21

I SAIAH 33:1–34:17

A PRAYER IN DEEP DISTRESS

1Woe to you who plunder, though you have not been plundered; And you who deal treacherously, though they have not dealt treacherously with you! When you cease plundering, You will be plundered; When you make an end of dealing treacherously, They will deal treacherously with you.

2O LORD, be gracious to us; We have waited for You. Be theira arm every morning, Our salvation also in the time of trouble. 3At the noise of the tumult the people shall flee; When You lift Yourself up, the nations shall be scattered; 4And Your plunder shall be gathered Like the gathering of the caterpillar; As the running to and fro of locusts, He shall run upon them.

5The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. 6Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, And the strength of salvation; The fear of the LORD is His treasure.

7Surely their valiant ones shall cry outside, The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly. 8The highways lie waste, The traveling man ceases. He has broken the covenant, He has despised the cities,a

He regards no man. 9The earth mourns and languishes, Lebanon is shamed and shriveled; Sharon is like a wilderness, And Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.

IMPENDING JUDGMENT ON ZION

10"Now I will rise," says the LORD; "Now I will be exalted, Now I will lift Myself up. 11You shall conceive chaff, You shall bring forth stubble; Your breath, as fire, shall devour you. 12And the people shall be like the burnings of lime; Like thorns cut up they shall be burned in the fire. 13Hear, you who are afar off, what I have done; And you who are near, acknowledge My might."

14The sinners in Zion are afraid; Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites: "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" 15He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, He who despises the gain of oppressions, Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes, Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, And shuts his eyes from seeing evil: 16He will dwell on high; His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; Bread will be given him, His water will be sure.

THE LAND OF THE MAJESTIC KING

17Your eyes will see the King in His beauty;

33:17 King in His beauty. The prophecy moves beyond Hezekiah in his sackcloth, oppressed by his enemy, to the Messiah in His beauty. Seeing Him in glory is another reward of the righteous. The near-future deliverance from

Sennacherib anticipates a more distant wonder when the Messiah will sit on His throne.

They will see the land that is very far off. 18Your heart will meditate on terror: "Where is the scribe? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?" 19You will not see a fierce people, A people of obscure speech, beyond perception, Of a stammering tongue that you cannot understand.

20Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts; Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet home, A tabernacle that will not be taken down; Not one of its stakes will ever be removed, Nor will any of its cords be broken. 21But there the majestic LORD will be for us A place of broad rivers and streams, In which no galley with oars will sail,

Nor majestic ships pass by 22(For the LORD is our Judge, The LORD is our Lawgiver, The LORD is our King; He will save us); 23Your tackle is loosed, They could not strengthen their mast, They could not spread the sail.

Then the prey of great plunder is divided; The lame take the prey. 24And the inhabitant will not say, "I am sick"; The people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity.

Isaiah 34

JUDGMENT ON THE NATIONS

1Come near, you nations, to hear; And heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, The world and all things that come forth from it. 2For the indignation of the LORD is against all nations, And His fury against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter. 3Also their slain shall be thrown out; Their stench shall rise from their corpses, And the mountains shall be melted with their blood. 4All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; All their host shall fall down As the leaf falls from the vine, And as fruit falling from a fig tree.

5"For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; Indeed it shall come down on Edom, And on the people of My curse, for judgment. 6The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, It is made overflowing with fatness, With the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the

land of Edom. 7The wild oxen shall come down with them, And the young bulls with the mighty bulls; Their land shall be soaked with blood, And their dust saturated with fatness."

8For it is the day of the LORD's vengeance, The year of recompense for the cause of Zion. 9Its streams shall be turned into pitch, And its dust into brimstone; Its land shall become burning pitch.

10It shall not be quenched night or day; Its smoke shall ascend forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; No one shall pass through it forever and ever. 11But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it, Also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And He shall stretch out over it The line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. 12They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, But none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing.

13And thorns shall come up in its palaces, Nettles and brambles in its fortresses; It shall be a habitation of jackals, A courtyard for ostriches. 14The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, And the wild goat shall bleat to its companion; Also the night creature shall rest there, And find for herself a place of rest. 15There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs And hatch, and gather them under her shadow; There also shall the hawks be gathered, Every one with her mate.

16"Search from the book of the LORD, and read: Not one of these shall fail; Not one shall lack her mate. For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them. 17He has cast the lot for them, And His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line. They shall possess it forever; From generation to generation they shall dwell in it."

Next September 21 Reading

Isaiah 35

September 22

I SAIAH 35:1–36:22

THE FUTURE GLORY OF ZION

1The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; 2It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, Even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, The excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, The excellency of our God.

3Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the feeble knees. 4Say to those who are fearful-hearted, "Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, With the recompense of God; He will come and save you."

5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6Then the lame shall leap like a deer,

35:6 lame…sing. God's restoration in the millennial age is to include physical restoration to the afflicted. Jesus' First Coming gave a foretaste of that future day (Matt. 11:5; 12:22; Mark 7:37; Luke 7:21; Acts 3:8).

And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert. 7The parched ground shall become a pool, And the thirsty land springs of water; In the habitation of jackals, where each lay, There shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

8A highway shall be there, and a road,

35:8 Highway of Holiness. This refers to the way leading the redeemed back to Jerusalem, the throne of the Messiah, literally and spiritually. Christ Himself is to be the leader on that way, called in 40:3, the "way of the LORD."

And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, But it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, Shall not go astray. 9No lion shall be there, Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; It shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there, 10And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, And come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Isaiah 36

SENNACHERIB BOASTS AGAINST THE LORD

1Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2Then the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeha with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller's Field. 3And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him.

4Then the Rabshakeh said to them, "Say now to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the

great king, the king of Assyria: "What confidence is this in which you trust? 5I say you speak of having plans and power for war; but they are mere words. Now in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me? 6Look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

7"But if you say to me, 'We trust in the LORD our God,' is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar'?" ' 8Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses—if you are able on your part to put riders on them! 9How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 10Have I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, 'Go up against this land, and destroy it.' "

36:10 The LORD said. Rabshakeh's boastful claim of the authority from

Judah's God for his mission may have been a ploy on his part to get a surrender, but it aligned with Isaiah's prophecy that the Assyrians would be His instrument to punish His people (8:7, 8; 10:5, 6). The Assyrians may have heard this from partisans or may not have known this, but Judah did.

11Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in Hebrewa in the hearing of the people who are on the wall."

12But the Rabshakeh said, "Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat and drink their own waste with you?"

13Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Hebrew, and

said, "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14Thus says the king:

'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you; 15nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, "The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." ' 16Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: 'Make peace with me by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own vine and every one

from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern; 17until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and

new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, "The LORD will deliver us." Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 20Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?' "

21But they held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king's

commandment was, "Do not answer him." 22Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Next September 22 Reading

Isaiah 37

September 23

I SAIAH 37:1–38:22

ISAIAH ASSURES DELIVERANCE

1And so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered

himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD. 2Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of

the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3And they said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah: 'This day is a day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth. 4It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.' "

5So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6And Isaiah said to them, "Thus you shall say to your master, 'Thus says the LORD: "Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land." ' "

SENNACHERIB'S THREAT AND HEZEKIAH'S PRAYER

8Then the Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against

Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish. 9And the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, "He has come out to make war with you."

So when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10"Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: 'Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of

Assyria." 11Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all

lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? 12Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran

and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and

Ivah?' "

14And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. 15Then Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying: 16"O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. 18Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands— wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. 20Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD, You alone."

THE WORD OF THE LORD CONCERNING SENNACHERIB 21THEN ISAIAH THE

SON OF AMOZ SENT TO HEZEKIAH, SAYING, "THUS SAYS THE LORD GOD OF

ISRAEL, 'BECAUSE YOU HAVE PRAYED TO ME AGAINST SENNACHERIB KING

OF ASSYRIA, 22

THIS IS THE WORD WHICH THE LORD HAS SPOKEN

CONCERNING HIM: "THE VIRGIN, THE DAUGHTER OF ZION,

Has despised you, laughed you to scorn;

The daughter of Jerusalem Has shaken her head behind your back!

23"Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice, And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel. 24By your servants you have reproached the Lord, And said, 'By the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, To the limits of Lebanon; I will cut down its tall cedars And its choice cypress trees; I will enter its farthest height, To its fruitful forest. 25I have dug and drunk water, And with the soles of my feet I have dried up All the brooks of defense.' 26"Did you not hear long ago How I made it, From ancient times that I formed it? Now I have brought it to pass,

That you should be For crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins. 27Therefore their inhabitants had little power; They were dismayed and confounded; They were as the grass of the field And the green herb, As the grass on the housetops And grain blighted before it is grown.

28"But I know your dwelling place, Your going out and your coming in, And your rage against Me. 29Because your rage against Me and your tumult

37:29 hook in your nose…bridle in your lips. In judging Sennacherib, the Lord treated him as an obstinate animal with a ring in his nose and/or a bridle in his mouth. Some ancient sources indicate that captives were led before a king by a cord attached to a hook or ring through the upper lip and nose. Thus, he was to be brought back to his own country.

Have come up to My ears, Therefore I will put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back By the way which you came." '

30"This shall be a sign to you:

You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, And the second year what springs from the same; Also in the third year sow and reap, Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. 31And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, And bear fruit upward.

32For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, And those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

33"Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: 'He shall not come into this city,

Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it. 34By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not come into this city,' Says the LORD. 35'For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David's sake.' "

SENNACHERIB'S DEFEAT AND DEATH

36Then the angela of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the

morning, there were the corpses—all dead. 37So Sennacherib king of Assyria

departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. 38Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

37:36 the angel of the LORD. This was Isaiah's only use of a title that is frequent in the Old Testament, one referring to the Lord Himself. killed. Secular records also mention this massive slaughter of Assyrian troops, without noting its supernatural nature, of course.

Isaiah 38

HEZEKIAH'S LIFE EXTENDED

1In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: 'Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.' "

2Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD, 3and said, "Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, 5"Go and tell Hezekiah, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years. 6I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city." ' 7And this is the sign to you from the LORD, that the

LORD will do this thing which He has spoken: 8"Behold, I will bring the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down with the sun on the sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward." So the sun returned ten degrees on the dial by which it had gone down.

9This is the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick and

had recovered from his sickness: 10I said,

"In the prime of my life I shall go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the remainder of my years." 11I said, "I shall not see YAH, The LORDa in the land of the living; I shall observe man no more among

the inhabitants of the world.b

12My life span is gone, Taken from me like a shepherd's tent;

I have cut off my life like a weaver. He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night You make an end of me. 13I have considered until morning— Like a lion, So He breaks all my bones; From day until night You make an end of me. 14Like a crane or a swallow, so I chattered; I mourned like a dove; My eyes fail from looking upward. O LORD,a I am oppressed; Undertake for me! 15"What shall I say? He has both spoken to me,a

And He Himself has done it. I shall walk carefully all my years In the bitterness of my soul. 16O Lord, by these things men live; And in all these things is the life of my spirit; So You will restore me and make me live. 17Indeed it was for my own peace That I had great bitterness; But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption,

For You have cast all my sins behind Your back. 18For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth. 19The living, the living man, he shall praise You, As I do this day; The father shall make known Your truth to the children.

20"The LORD was ready to save me; Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments All the days of our life, in the house of the LORD."

21Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a lump of figs, and apply it as a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover."

22And Hezekiah had said, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?"

Next September 23 Reading

Isaiah 39

September 24

I SAIAH 39:1–40:31

THE BABYLONIAN ENVOYS

1At that time Merodach-Baladana the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had

recovered. 2And Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

3Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?"

So Hezekiah said, "They came to me from a far country, from

Babylon." 4And he said, "What have they seen in your house?" So Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them."

5Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: 6'Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,' says the LORD. 7'And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.' "

8So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good!" For he said, "At least there will be peace and truth in my days."

Isaiah 40

GOD'S PEOPLE ARE COMFORTED

1"Comfort, yes, comfort My people!"

40:1, 2 Comfort,…comfort. The prophecy addressed God's prophets, instructing them to emphasize the theme of comfort to a captive people in a foreign land many miles from their home city of Jerusalem. God has good plans for great blessing to Israel in the future because they are His covenant people, who are never to be permanently cast away (Rom. 11:2).

Says your God. 2"Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, That her warfare is ended, That her iniquity is pardoned; For she has received from the LORD's hand Double for all her sins."

3The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

40:3, 4 Prepare the way. The remnant of Israel could remove obstacles from the coming Messiah's path through repentance from their sins. John the Baptist reminded his listeners of this necessity (Matt. 3:2), as did Jesus (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:15). These verses reflect the custom of some eastern monarchs to send heralds before them to clear away obstacles, make causeways, straighten crooked roads and valleys, and level hills (45:1, 2). John had the task of getting people ready for the Messiah's arrival.

"Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the deserta

A highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth; 5The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

6The voice said, "Cry out!"

And hea said, "What shall I cry?"

"All flesh is grass, And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. 7The grass withers, the flower fades, Because the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. 8The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever."

9O Zion, You who bring good tidings, Get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, You who bring good tidings, Lift up your voice with strength, Lift it up, be not afraid; Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"

10Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand, And His arm shall rule for Him; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him. 11He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young.

12Who has measured the watersa in the hollow of His hand, Measured heaven with a span And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?

Weighed the mountains in scales And the hills in a balance? 13Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,

40:13, 14 directed the Spirit of the LORD. Isaiah pointed to the incomparable wisdom of God. Paul alluded to this verse in connection with God's wisdom in dealing with Jews and Gentiles (Rom. 11:34) and with God's impartation of wisdom to the spiritual believer (1 Cor. 2:16).

Or as His counselor has taught Him? 14With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, And taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, And showed Him the way of understanding?

15Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, And are counted as the small dust on the scales; Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing. 16And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering. 17All nations before Him are as nothing, And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.

18To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him? 19The workman molds an image, The goldsmith overspreads it with gold, And the silversmith casts silver chains. 20Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution Chooses a tree that will not rot; He seeks for himself a skillful workman To prepare a carved image that will not totter.

21Have you not known? Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. 23He brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless.

24Scarcely shall they be planted, Scarcely shall they be sown, Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth, When He will also blow on them, And they will wither, And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

25"To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?" says the Holy One. 26Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.

27Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel: "My way is hidden from the LORD, And my just claim is passed over by my God"? 28Have you not known?

40:28 Neither faints nor is weary. God was not too weak to act on their behalf, nor was fatigue an obstacle for the Creator in caring for His people (vv. 29, 30). Though even the young and strong become tired and fall, the Ancient of Days never does. unsearchable. To the human mind, God's wisdom is not fully comprehensible in how He chooses to fulfill His promises to deliver Israel. Paul saw a further illustration of this truth in God's plan for the final restoration of

Israel (Rom. 11:33; see Is. 40:13).

Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. 30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31But those who wait on the LORD

40:31 wait on the LORD. There is a general principle here that patient, praying believers are blessed by God with strength in their trials (2 Cor. 12:8–10). The Lord also expected His people to be patient and await His coming in glory at the end to fulfill the promises of national deliverance, when believing Israel would become stronger than they had ever been.

Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

Next September 24 Reading

Isaiah 41

September 25

I SAIAH 41:1–42:25

ISRAEL ASSURED OF GOD'S HELP

1"Keep silence before Me, O coastlands, And let the people renew their strength! Let them come near, then let them speak; Let us come near together for judgment.

2"Who raised up one from the east? Who in righteousness called him to His feet? Who gave the nations before him, And made him rule over kings? Who gave them as the dust to his sword, As driven stubble to his bow? 3Who pursued them, and passed safely By the way that he had not gone with his feet? 4Who has performed and done it,

41:4 first…last. He existed before history and will exist after it (44:6; 48:12; Rev. 1:17; 2:8; 22:13). I am He. It is legitimate to translate the two Hebrew words thus represented by "I am" (see also 42:8; 43:10, 13; 46:4), a messianic title appropriated by Jesus frequently as explicit testimony to His deity (e.g., Mark 13:6; 14:62; Luke 21:8; John 8:28, 58; 13:19). The title comes originally from the Lord's self-revelation to Moses in Exodus 3:14.

Calling the generations from the beginning? 'I, the LORD, am the first; And with the last I am He.' "

5The coastlands saw it and feared, The ends of the earth were afraid; They drew near and came. 6Everyone helped his neighbor, And said to his brother, "Be of good courage!" 7So the craftsman encouraged the goldsmith; He who smooths with the hammer inspired him who strikes the anvil, Saying, "It is ready for the soldering"; Then he fastened it with pegs, That it might not totter.

8"But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, The descendants of Abraham My friend. 9You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its farthest regions, And said to you, 'You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away: 10Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'

11"Behold, all those who were incensed against you Shall be ashamed and disgraced; They shall be as nothing, And those who strive with you shall perish. 12You shall seek them and not find them— Those who contended with you.

Those who war against you Shall be as nothing, As a nonexistent thing. 13For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, 'Fear not, I will help you.'

14"Fear not, you worm Jacob, You men of Israel! I will help you," says the LORD And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 15"Behold, I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth; You shall thresh the mountains and beat them small, And make the hills like chaff. 16You shall winnow them, the wind shall carry them away, And the whirlwind shall scatter them; You shall rejoice in the LORD, And glory in the Holy One of Israel.

17"The poor and needy seek water, but there is none, Their tongues fail for thirst. I, the LORD, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. 18I will open rivers in desolate heights, And fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, And the dry land springs of water. 19I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the acacia tree, The myrtle and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the cypress tree and the pine And the box tree together, 20That they may see and know, And consider and understand together, That the hand of the LORD has done this, And the Holy One of Israel

has created it.

THE FUTILITY OF IDOLS

21"Present your case," says the LORD. "Bring forth your strong reasons," says the King of Jacob. 22"Let them bring forth and show us what will happen; Let them show the former things, what they were, That we may consider them, And know the latter end of them; Or declare to us things to come. 23Show the things that are to come hereafter, That we may know that you are gods; Yes, do good or do evil, That we may be dismayed and see it together. 24Indeed you are nothing, And your work is nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.

25"I have raised up one from the north, And he shall come; From the rising of the sun he shall call on My name; And he shall come against princes as though mortar, As the potter treads clay. 26Who has declared from the beginning, that we may know? And former times, that we may say, 'He is righteous'? Surely there is no one who shows, Surely there is no one who declares, Surely there is no one who hears your words. 27The first time I said to Zion, 'Look, there they are!' And I will give to Jerusalem one who brings good tidings. 28For I looked, and there was no man; I looked among them, but there was no counselor, Who, when I asked of them, could answer a word. 29Indeed they are all worthless;a

Their works are nothing; Their molded images are wind and confusion.

Isaiah 42

THE SERVANT OF THE LORD

1"Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. 2He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. 3A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. 4He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands shall wait for His law."

5Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, And spirit to those who walk on it: 6"I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles, 7To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house. 8I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images. 9Behold, the former things have come to pass, And new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them."

PRAISE TO THE LORD

10Sing to the LORD a new song, And His praise from the ends of the earth, You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, You coastlands and you inhabitants of them! 11Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, The villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing, Let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12Let them give glory to the LORD, And declare His praise in the coastlands. 13The LORD shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies.

PROMISE OF THE LORD'S HELP 14"I HAVE HELD MY PEACE A LONG TIME,

I have been still and restrained Myself. Now I will cry like a woman in labor, I will pant and gasp at once. 15I will lay waste the mountains and hills, And dry up all their vegetation; I will make the rivers coastlands, And I will dry up the pools. 16I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, And crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, And not forsake them. 17They shall be turned back, They shall be greatly ashamed, Who trust in carved images, Who say to the molded images, 'You are our gods.'

18"Hear, you deaf; And look, you blind, that you may see. 19Who is blind but My servant, Or deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is blind as he who is perfect, And blind as the LORD's servant? 20Seeing many things, but you do not observe; Opening the ears, but he

does not hear."

ISRAEL'S OBSTINATE DISOBEDIENCE

21The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness' sake; He will exalt the law and make it honorable. 22But this is a people robbed and plundered; All of them are snared in holes, And they are hidden in prison houses; They are for prey, and no one delivers; For plunder, and no one says, "Restore!"

23Who among you will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come? 24Who gave Jacob for plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the LORD, He against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in His ways, Nor were they obedient to His law. 25Therefore He has poured on him the fury of His anger And the strength of battle; It has set him on fire all around, Yet he did not know; And it burned him, Yet he did not take it to heart.

Next September 25 Reading

Isaiah 43

September 26

I SAIAH 43:1–44:28

THE REDEEMER OF ISRAEL

1But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. 2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. 3For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place. 4Since you were precious in My sight, You have been honored, And I have loved you; Therefore I will give men for you, And people for your life. 5Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, And gather you from the west; 6I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' And to the south, 'Do not keep them back!' Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth— 7Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him."

8Bring out the blind people who have eyes, And the deaf who have ears. 9Let all the nations be gathered together, And let the people be assembled. Who among them can declare this, And show us former things? Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified; Or let

them hear and say, "It is truth." 10"You are My witnesses," says the LORD, "And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me,

And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me. 11I, even I, am the LORD, And besides Me there is no savior. 12I have declared and saved, I have proclaimed, And there was no foreign god among you; Therefore you are My witnesses," Says the LORD, "that I am God. 13Indeed before the day was, I am He; And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand; I work, and who will reverse it?"

14Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: "For your sake I will send to Babylon, And bring them all down as fugitives— The Chaldeans, who rejoice in their ships. 15I am the LORD, your Holy One, The Creator of Israel, your King." 16Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea And a path through the mighty waters, 17Who brings forth the chariot and horse, The army and the power (They shall lie down together, they shall not rise; They are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick): 18"Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. 19Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert. 20The beast of the field will honor Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I give waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My people, My chosen. 21This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise.

PLEADING WITH UNFAITHFUL ISRAEL

22"But you have not called upon Me, O Jacob; And you have been weary of Me, O Israel. 23You have not brought Me the sheep for your burnt offerings, Nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not caused you to serve with grain offerings, Nor wearied you with incense. 24You have bought Me no sweet cane with money, Nor have you satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices; But you have burdened Me with your sins, You have wearied Me with your iniquities.

25"I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake;

43:25 I, even I…not remember your sins. This verse is probably the high point of grace in the Old Testament. In spite of Israel's utter unworthiness, the Lord in His grace has devised a way that He can forgive their sins and grant righteousness, without compromising His holiness. This He would accomplish through the work of His Servant (53:6). In spite of her failures, Israel will always be God's chosen people.

And I will not remember your sins. 26Put Me in remembrance; Let us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted. 27Your first father sinned, And your mediators have transgressed against Me. 28Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; I will give Jacob to the curse, And Israel to reproaches.

Isaiah 44

GOD'S BLESSING ON ISRAEL

1"Yet hear now, O Jacob My servant, And Israel whom I have chosen. 2Thus says the LORD who made you And formed you from the womb, who will help you: 'Fear not, O Jacob My servant; And you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. 3For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring; 4They will spring up among the grass Like willows by the watercourses.' 5One will say, 'I am the LORD's'; Another will call himself by the name of Jacob; Another will write with his hand, 'The LORD's,' And name himself by the name of Israel.

THERE IS NO OTHER GOD

6"Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: 'I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God. 7And who can proclaim as I do? Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me, Since I appointed the ancient people. And the things that are coming and shall come, Let them show these to them. 8Do not fear, nor be afraid; Have I not told you from that time, and declared it? You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one.' "

IDOLATRY IS FOOLISHNESS

9Those who make an image, all of them are useless, And their precious things shall not profit; They are their own witnesses; They neither see nor know, that they may be ashamed. 10Who would form a god or mold an image That profits him nothing? 11Surely all his companions would be ashamed; And the workmen, they are mere men. Let them all be gathered together, Let them stand up; Yet they shall fear, They shall be ashamed together.

12The blacksmith with the tongs works one in the coals, Fashions it with hammers, And works it with the strength of his arms. Even so, he is hungry, and his strength fails; He drinks no water and is faint.

13The craftsman stretches out his rule, He marks one out with chalk; He fashions it with a plane, He marks it out with the compass, And makes it like the figure of a man, According to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house. 14He cuts down cedars for himself, And takes the cypress and the oak; He secures it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it.

15Then it shall be for a man to burn, For he will take some of it and warm himself; Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; Indeed he makes a god and worships it; He makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. 16He burns half of it in the fire; With this half he eats meat; He roasts a roast, and is satisfied.

He even warms himself and says, "Ah! I am warm, I have seen the fire." 17And the rest of it he makes into a god, His carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, Prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god!"

18They do not know nor understand; For He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, And their hearts, so that they cannot understand. 19And no one considers in his heart, Nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, "I have burned half of it in the fire, Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals; I have roasted meat and eaten it; And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?" 20He feeds on ashes; A deceived heart has turned him aside; And he cannot deliver his soul, Nor say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?"

ISRAEL IS NOT FORGOTTEN

21"Remember these, O Jacob, And Israel, for you are My servant; I have formed you, you are My servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me! 22I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, And like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you."

23Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it! Shout, you lower parts of the earth; Break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, And glorified Himself in Israel.

JUDAH WILL BE RESTORED

24Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, And He who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD, who makes all things, Who stretches out the

heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself; 25Who frustrates the signs of the babblers, And drives diviners mad; Who turns wise men backward, And makes their knowledge foolishness; 26Who confirms the word of His servant, And performs the counsel of His messengers; Who says to Jerusalem, 'You shall be inhabited,' To the cities of Judah, 'You shall be built,' And I will raise up her waste places; 27Who says to the deep, 'Be dry! And I will dry up your rivers'; 28Who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd,

44:28 Cyrus,…My shepherd. The prophecy given a century and a half before Cyrus lived and became king of Persia predicted God's use of the Persian king to gather the faithful remnant of Israel back to the land. In this role, Cyrus prefigured the Lord's Servant, who will shepherd the sheep of Israel in their final regathering (Mic. 5:4). The title "shepherd" applied to kings as leaders of God's people (2 Sam. 5:2; Jer. 3:15). In Acts 13:22, Paul compares David to the standard of Cyrus's obedience. Jerusalem…the temple. In 538 B.C., Cyrus decreed the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 1:1, 2; 6:3), thus fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy. The returning Jews completed the work in 516 B.C. (Ezra 6:15).

And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, "You shall be built," And to the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid." '

Next September 26 Reading

Isaiah 45

September 27

I SAIAH 45:1–46:13

CYRUS, GOD'S INSTRUMENT

1"Thus says the LORD to His anointed,

45:1 His anointed. This word is the one translated from the Hebrew by the transliteration "Messiah." It is the word used for the messianic Redeemer King in Psalm 2:2 and Daniel 9:25, 26, but here refers to Cyrus, as the king set apart by God's providence for divine purposes. Though not a worshiper of the Lord, the Persian monarch played an unusual role as Israel's shepherd (44:28) and God's anointed judge on nations.

To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held—

To subdue nations before him And loose the armor of kings, To open before him the double doors, So that the gates will not be shut: 2'I will go before you And make the crooked placesa straight; I will break in pieces the

gates of bronze And cut the bars of iron. 3I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel. 4For Jacob My servant's sake, And Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me. 5I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, 6That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting That there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; 7I form the light and create

darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.'

8"Rain down, you heavens, from above, And let the skies pour down righteousness; Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, And let righteousness spring up together. I, the LORD, have created it.

9"Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' Or shall your handiwork say, 'He has no hands'? 10Woe to him who says to his father, 'What are you begetting?' Or to the woman, 'What have you brought forth?' "

11Thus says the LORD, The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: "Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons; And concerning the work of My hands, you command Me. 12I have made the earth,

And created man on it. I—My hands—stretched out the heavens, And all their host I have commanded. 13I have raised him up in righteousness, And I will direct all his ways;

He shall build My city And let My exiles go free, Not for price nor reward," Says the LORD of hosts.

THE LORD, THE ONLY SAVIOR 14THUS SAYS THE LORD: "THE LABOR OF

EGYPT AND MERCHANDISE OF CUSH

And of the Sabeans, men of stature, Shall come over to you, and they shall be yours; They shall walk behind you, They shall come over in chains; And they shall bow down to you. They will make supplication to you, saying, 'Surely God is in you,

And there is no other; There is no other God.' " 15Truly You are God, who hide Yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior! 16They shall be ashamed And also disgraced, all of them; They shall go in confusion together, Who are makers of idols. 17But Israel shall be saved by the LORD With an everlasting salvation; You shall not be ashamed or disgraced Forever and ever.

18For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: "I am the LORD, and there is no other. 19I have not spoken in secret, In a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, 'Seek Me in vain'; I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.

20"Assemble yourselves and come; Draw near together,

You who have escaped from the nations. They have no knowledge, Who carry the wood of their carved image, And pray to a god that cannot save. 21Tell and bring forth your case;

45:21 there is no other… There is none. The Lord restated the truth expressed by Moses in Deuteronomy 4:35. The scribe who asked Jesus about the greatest commandment cited this same principle in agreeing with Jesus' answer to his question (Mark 12:32).

Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, A just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me.

22"Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. 23I have sworn by Myself;

45:23 every knee shall bow. In the kingdom age, all nations will worship the one true God of Israel. A further meaning, justified by the New Testament, applies this verse to believers' accountability to God when He evaluates their works (Rom. 14:11). In assigning the words another meaning, Paul relates the words to the coming universal acknowledgment that "Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:10, 11).

The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, And shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow, Every tongue shall take an oath. 24He shall say, 'Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength. To Him men shall come,

And all shall be ashamed Who are incensed against Him. 25In the LORD all the descendants of Israel Shall be justified, and shall glory.' "

Isaiah 46

DEAD IDOLS AND THE LIVING GOD

1Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; Their idols were on the beasts and on the cattle. Your carriages were heavily loaded, A burden to the weary beast. 2They stoop, they bow down together; They could not deliver the burden, But have themselves gone into captivity.

3"Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel, Who have been upheld by Me from birth, Who have been carried from the womb: 4Even to your old age, I am He, And even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

5"To whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal And compare Me, that we should be alike? 6They lavish gold out of the bag, And weigh silver on the scales; They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god; They prostrate themselves, yes, they worship. 7They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it And set it in its place, and it stands; From its place it shall not move. Though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer Nor save him out of

his trouble.

8"Remember this, and show yourselves men; Recall to mind, O you transgressors. 9Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that

are not yet done, Saying, 'My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,' 11Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it.

12"Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted, Who are far from righteousness: 13I bring My righteousness near, it shall not be far off; My salvation shall not linger. And I will place salvation in Zion, For Israel My glory.

Next September 27 Reading

Isaiah 47

September 28

I SAIAH 47:1–48:22

THE HUMILIATION OF BABYLON

1"Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no more be called Tender and delicate. 2Take the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, Take off the skirt, Uncover the thigh, Pass through the rivers. 3Your nakedness shall be uncovered, Yes, your shame will be seen; I will take vengeance, And I will not arbitrate with a man."

4As for our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name, The Holy One of Israel.

5"Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; For you shall no longer be called The Lady of Kingdoms. 6I was angry with My people; I have profaned My inheritance, And given them into your hand. You showed them no mercy; On the elderly you laid your yoke very heavily. 7And you said, 'I shall be a lady forever,' So that you did not take these things to heart, Nor remember the

latter end of them.

8"Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures, Who dwell securely, Who say in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one else besides me; I

shall not sit as a widow, Nor shall I know the loss of children'; 9But these two things shall come to you In a moment, in one day: The loss of children, and widowhood. They shall come upon you in their fullness

Because of the multitude of your sorceries, For the great abundance of your enchantments.

10"For you have trusted in your wickedness; You have said, 'No one sees me'; Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you; And you have said in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one else besides me.' 11Therefore evil shall come upon you; You shall not know from where it arises. And trouble shall fall upon you; You will not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come upon you suddenly, Which you shall not know.

12"Stand now with your enchantments And the multitude of your sorceries, In which you have labored from your youth— Perhaps you will be able to profit, Perhaps you will prevail. 13You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels; Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, And the monthly prognosticators

Stand up and save you From what shall come upon you. 14Behold, they shall be as stubble, The fire shall burn them;

They shall not deliver themselves From the power of the flame; It shall not be a coal to be warmed by, Nor a fire to sit before! 15Thus shall they be to you With whom you have labored, Your merchants from your youth; They shall wander each one to his quarter. No one shall save you.

Isaiah 48

ISRAEL REFINED FOR GOD'S GLORY

1"Hear this, O house of Jacob, Who are called by the name of Israel, And have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah; Who swear by the name of the LORD, And make mention of the God

of Israel, But not in truth or in righteousness;

2For they call themselves after the holy city, And lean on the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is His name: 3"I have declared the former things from the

beginning; They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it.

Suddenly I did them, and they came to pass. 4Because I knew that you were obstinate, And your neck was an iron sinew, And your brow bronze, 5Even from the beginning I have declared it to you; Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you, Lest you should say, 'My idol has done them, And my carved image and my molded image Have commanded them.'

6"You have heard;

48:6 new things. From this point onward, the prophecies of the Messiah's First and Second Coming and the restoration of Israel have a new distinctiveness. Babylon becomes the Babylon of Revelation (v. 20), and God uses Isaiah to communicate truths about the messianic kingdom on earth and the new heavens and new earth that follow it (e.g., 11:1–5; 65:17). Verse 7 indicates that God had never before revealed these features about the future.

See all this. And will you not declare it? I have made you hear new things from this time, Even hidden things, and you did not know them. 7They are created now and not from the beginning; And before this day you have not heard them, Lest you should say, 'Of course I knew them.' 8Surely you did not hear, Surely you did not know; Surely from long ago your ear was not opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, And were called a transgressor from the womb.

9"For My name's sake I will defer My anger, And for My praise I will restrain it from you, So that I do not cut you off. 10Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;

8:10, 11 refined…tested. Since Isaiah's time, Israel's testings have included the Babylonian captivity and present worldwide dispersion from her land; unlike silver purged in the furnace, the purging of Israel is not complete, and they are not refined. But God keeps up the afflictions until they are, so His name is not defamed through the destruction of Israel. The nation will be purged ( Zech. 13:1 ). God's plan is such that He alone, not man or man-made idols, will receive credit for Israel's salvation (42:8; Rom. 11:25–27, 33–36). The adversaries of God are never to be given legitimate reasons for scoffing at God and His work.

I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. 11For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; For how should My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another.

GOD'S ANCIENT PLAN TO REDEEM ISRAEL

12"Listen to Me, O Jacob, And Israel, My called: I am He, I am the First, I am also the Last. 13Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, And My right hand has stretched out the heavens; When I call to them, They stand up together.

14"All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear! Who among them has declared these things? The LORD loves him; He shall do His pleasure on Babylon, And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans. 15I, even I, have spoken; Yes, I have called him, I have brought him, and his way will prosper. 16"Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; From the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord GOD and His Spirit Havea sent Me."

17Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go. 18Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea. 19Your descendants also would have been like the sand, And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand; His name would not have been cut off Nor destroyed from before Me."

20Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing, Declare, proclaim this, Utter it to the end of the earth; Say, "The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!" 21And they did not thirst

When He led them through the deserts; He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them; He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.

22"There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."

Next September 28 Reading

Isaiah 49

September 29

I SAIAH 49:1–50:11

THE SERVANT, THE LIGHT TO THE GENTILES 1"LISTEN, O COASTLANDS,

TO ME, AND TAKE HEED, YOU PEOPLES FROM AFAR!

The LORD has called Me from the womb; From the matrix of My

mother He has made mention of My name. 2And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword; In the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me, And made Me a polished shaft; In His quiver He has hidden Me."

3"And He said to me, 'You are My servant, O Israel, In whom I will be glorified.' 4Then I said, 'I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain; Yet surely my just reward is with the LORD, And my work with my God.' "

5"And now the LORD says, Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, So that Israel is gathered to Hima

(For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, And My God shall be

My strength), 6Indeed He says, 'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the

tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,

That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.' "

7Thus says the LORD, The Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One, To Him whom man despises, To Him whom the nation abhors, To the Servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise, Princes also shall worship, Because of the LORD who is faithful, The Holy One of Israel; And He has chosen You."

8Thus says the LORD:

49:8 acceptable time…day of salvation. The Messiah is represented as asking for the grace of God to be given to sinners. God gives His favorable answer in a time of grace ( 61:1 ) when salvation's day comes to the world ( Gal. 4:4 , 5 ; Heb. 4:7 ). At His appointed time in the future, the Lord will, by His Servant, accomplish the final deliverance of Israel. Paul applied these words to his ministry of proclaiming the gospel of God's grace to all people (2 Cor. 6:2). a covenant to the people. When the Lord saves and regathers Israel, they will return to the land, to which Joshua brought their ancestors after their exit from Egypt, now restored and glorious (44:26; Josh. 13:1–8).

"In an acceptable time I have heard You, And in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You As a covenant to the people, To restore the earth, To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages; 9That You may say to the prisoners, 'Go forth,' To those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves.'

"They shall feed along the roads, And their pastures shall be on all desolate heights.

10They shall neither hunger nor thirst, Neither heat nor sun shall strike them; For He who has mercy on them will lead them, Even by the springs of water He will guide them. 11I will make each of My mountains a road, And My highways shall be elevated. 12Surely these shall come from afar; Look! Those from the north and the west, And these from the land of Sinim."

13Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, And will have mercy on His

afflicted.

GOD WILL REMEMBER ZION

14But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, And my Lord has forgotten me." 15"Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you. 16See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me. 17Your sonsa shall make haste; Your destroyers and those who laid you waste Shall go away from you. 18Lift up your eyes, look around and see; All these gather together and come to you. As I live," says the LORD, "You shall surely clothe yourselves with them

all as an ornament, And bind them on you as a bride does.

19"For your waste and desolate places, And the land of your destruction, Will even now be too small for the inhabitants; And those who swallowed you up will be far away. 20The children you will have, After you have lost the others, Will say again in your ears, 'The place is too small for me; Give me a place where I may dwell.' 21Then you will say in your heart, 'Who has begotten these for me, Since I have lost my children and am desolate, A captive, and wandering to and fro? And who has brought these up? There I was, left alone; But these, where were they?' "

22Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations, And set up My standard for the peoples;

They shall bring your sons in their arms, And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders; 23Kings shall

be your foster fathers, And their queens your nursing mothers;

They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, And lick up

the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD, For they shall not be

ashamed who wait for Me."

24Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, Or the captives of the righteousa be delivered? 25But thus says the LORD: "Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, And the prey of the terrible be delivered;

For I will contend with him who contends with you, And I will save your children. 26I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh, And they shall be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine.

All flesh shall know That I, the LORD, am your Savior, And your Redeemer, the Mighty

One of Jacob."

Isaiah 50

THE SERVANT, ISRAEL'S HOPE

1Thus says the LORD: "Where is the certificate of your mother's divorce, Whom I have put away?

Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? For your iniquities you have sold yourselves, And for your transgressions your mother has been put away. 2Why, when I came, was there no man? Why, when I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Indeed with My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; Their fish stink because there is no water, And die of thirst. 3I clothe the heavens with blackness, And I make sackcloth their covering."

4"The Lord GOD has given Me The tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak A word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning,

He awakens My ear To hear as the learned. 5The Lord GOD has opened My ear; And I was not rebellious, Nor did I turn away. 6I gave My back to those who struck Me,

50:6 My back…My cheeks…My face. The Servant remained obedient though provoked to rebel by excessively vile treatment. Jesus fulfilled this prophecy by remaining submissive to the Father's will (Matt. 26:67; 27:26, 30; Mark 14:65; 15:19; Luke 22:63; John 18:22).

And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.

7"For the Lord GOD will help Me;

50:7 set My face like a flint. So sure was He of the Lord God's help that He resolutely determined to remain unswayed by whatever hardship might await Him (Ezek. 3:8, 9). Jesus demonstrated this determination in setting His face to go to Jerusalem to be crucified (Luke 9:51).

Therefore I will not be disgraced; Therefore I have set My face like a flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed. 8He is near who justifies Me; Who will contend with Me? Let us stand together. Who is My adversary? Let him come near Me. 9Surely the Lord GOD will help Me; Who is he who will condemn Me? Indeed they will all grow old like a garment;

The moth will eat them up.

10"Who among you fears the LORD? Who obeys the voice of His Servant?

Who walks in darkness And has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD And rely upon his God. 11Look, all you who kindle a fire, Who encircle yourselves with sparks: Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled— This you

shall have from My hand: You shall lie down in torment.

Next September 29 Reading

Isaiah 51

September 30

I SAIAH 51:1–52:15

THE LORD COMFORTS ZION 1"LISTEN TO ME, YOU WHO FOLLOW AFTER

RIGHTEOUSNESS, YOU WHO SEEK THE LORD:

Look to the rock from which you were hewn, And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. 2Look to Abraham your father, And to Sarah who bore you; For I called him alone, And blessed him and increased him."

3For the LORD will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the LORD; Joy and gladness will be

found in it, Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

4"Listen to Me, My people; And give ear to Me, O My nation: For law will proceed from Me, And I will make My justice rest As a light of the peoples. 5My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth, And My arms will judge the peoples; The coastlands will wait upon Me, And on My arm they will trust. 6Lift up your eyes to the heavens,

51:6 heavens will vanish…earth will grow old. This begins to take place in the time of tribulation (Rev. 6:12–14; 8:12, 13; 16:8–10, 21), setting the stage, along with the earthly judgments on land, sea, and fresh water ( Rev. 6:14 ; 8:6– 11 ; 16:3–5 ), for a renewed earth during the Millennium. The actual "uncreation" or destruction of the present universe, of which Peter wrote (2 Pet. 3:10–13), occurs at the end of Christ's millennial reign on the earth, when a new heaven and a new earth will replace the present creation (2 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 21:1).

And look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, The earth will grow old like a garment, And those who dwell in it will die in like manner; But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness will not be abolished.

7"Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, You people in whose heart is My law: Do not fear the reproach of men, Nor be afraid of their insults. 8For the moth will eat them up like a garment, And the worm will eat them like wool; But My righteousness will be forever, And My salvation from generation to generation."

9Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD! Awake as in the ancient days, In the generations of old. Are You not the arm that cut Rahab apart, And wounded the serpent?

10Are You not the One who dried up the sea, The waters of the great deep; That made the depths of the sea a road For the redeemed to cross over? 11So the ransomed of the LORD shall return, And come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness; Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

12"I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you should be afraid Of a man who will die, And of the son of a man who will be made like grass? 13And you forget the LORD your Maker, Who stretched out the heavens And laid the foundations of the earth; You have feared continually every day Because of the fury of the oppressor, When he has prepared to destroy. And where is the fury of the oppressor? 14The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed, That he should not die in the pit, And that his bread should not fail. 15But I am the LORD your God, Who divided the sea whose waves roared— The LORD of hosts is His name. 16And I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, That I may plant the heavens, Lay the foundations of the earth, And say to Zion, 'You are My people.' "

GOD'S FURY REMOVED

17Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk at the hand of the LORD The cup of His fury; You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, And drained it out. 18There is no one to guide her Among all the sons she has brought forth; Nor is there any who takes her by the hand Among all the sons she has brought up. 19These two things have come to you; Who will be sorry for you?— Desolation and destruction, famine and sword— By whom will I comfort you? 20Your sons have fainted, They lie at the head of all the streets, Like an antelope in a net; They are full of the fury of the LORD, The rebuke of your God.

21Therefore please hear this, you afflicted, And drunk but not with wine. 22Thus says your Lord, The LORD and your God, Who pleads the cause of His people: "See, I have taken out of your hand The cup of trembling, The dregs of the cup of My fury; You shall no longer drink it. 23But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, Who have said to you,a

'Lie down, that we may walk over you.' And you have laid your body like the ground, And as the street, for those who walk over."

Isaiah 52

GOD REDEEMS JERUSALEM

1Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean Shall no longer come to you. 2Shake yourself from the dust, arise; Sit down, O Jerusalem! Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion!

3For thus says the LORD: "You have sold yourselves for nothing, And you shall be redeemed without money."

4For thus says the Lord GOD: "My people went down at first Into Egypt to dwell there; Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. 5Now therefore, what have I here," says the taken away for nothing?

LORD, "That My people are

Those who rule over them Make them wail,"a says the LORD, "And My name is blasphemed

continually every day. 6Therefore My people shall know My name; Therefore they shall know in that day That I am He who speaks: 'Behold, it is I.' "

7How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!" 8Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, With their voices they shall sing together; For they shall see eye to eye When the LORD brings back Zion. 9Break forth into joy, sing together, You waste places of Jerusalem! For the LORD has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. 10The LORD has made bare His holy arm In the eyes of all the nations; And all the ends of the earth shall see The salvation of our God.

11Depart! Depart! Go out from there, Touch no unclean thing; Go out from the midst of her, Be clean, You who bear the vessels of the LORD. 12For you shall not go out with haste, Nor go by flight; For the LORD will go before you, And the God of Israel will be your

rear guard.

THE SIN-BEARING SERVANT

13Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. 14Just as many were astonished at you,

52:14 His visage was marred. The Servant must undergo inhuman cruelty to the point that He no longer looks like a human being. His appearance is so awful that people look at Him in astonishment (53:2, 3; Ps. 22:6; Matt. 26:67; 27:30; John 19:3).

So His visage was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of

men; 15So shall He sprinklea many nations.

52:15 sprinkle many nations. In His disfigured state, the Servant will perform a priestly work of cleansing not just Israel but many outside the nation ( Ex. 29:21 ; Lev. 4:6 ; 8:11 ; 14:7 ; Num. 8:7 ; 19:18 , 19 ; Heb. 9:13 ). shut their mouths. At His exaltation, human leaders in the highest places will be speechless and in awe before the once-despised Servant (Ps. 2). When He takes His throne, they will see the unfolding of power and glory such as they have never heard. Paul applied the principle in this verse to his apostolic mission of preaching the gospel of Christ where Christ was yet unknown (Rom. 15:21).

Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; For what had not been told them they shall see, And what they had not heard they shall consider.

Next September 30 Reading

Isaiah 53

October 1

I SAIAH 53:1–54:17

1Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

4Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray;

53:6 All we…every one,…us all. Every person has sinned (Rom. 3:9, 23), but the Servant has sufficiently shouldered the consequences of sin and the righteous wrath deserved by sinners (1 Tim. 2:5, 6; 4:10; 1 John 2:2). The manner in which God laid our iniquity on Him was that God treated Him as if He had committed every sin ever committed by every person who would ever believe,

though He was perfectly innocent of any sin. God did so to Him, so that wrath being spent and justice satisfied, God could then give to the account of sinners who believe, the righteousness of Christ, treating them as if they had done only the righteous acts of Christ. In both cases, this is substitution.

We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

7He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 8He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. 9And theya made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

10Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;

53:10 it pleased the LORD. Though the Servant did not deserve to die, it was the Lord's will for Him to do so ( Matt. 26:39 ; Luke 22:42 ; John 12:27 ; Acts 2:23 ). an offering for sin. Fulfilled by the Servant as the Lamb of God (v. 7 ; John 1:29). Christ is the Christian's Passover (1 Cor. 5:7). This conclusively eliminates the error that Christ's atonement provides presentday healing for those who pray in faith. His death was an atonement for sin, not sickness. see His seed,…prolong His days. To see His seed, the Servant must rise from the dead. He will do this and live to reign forever.

He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure

of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. 11He shall see the labor of His soul,a and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He

shall bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 54

A PERPETUAL COVENANT OF PEACE

1"Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, You who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate Than the children of the married woman," says the LORD. 2"Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes. 3For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the nations, And make the desolate cities inhabited.

4"Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; For you will forget the shame of your youth, And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore. 5For your Maker is your husband, The LORD of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth. 6For the LORD has called you Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, Like a youthful wife when you were refused," Says your God. 7"For a mere moment I have forsaken you, But with great mercies I will gather you. 8With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you," Says the LORD, your Redeemer.

9"For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, So have I sworn That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. 10For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed, But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,"

Says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

11"O you afflicted one, Tossed with tempest, and not comforted, Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, And lay your foundations with sapphires. 12I will make your pinnacles of rubies, Your gates of crystal, And all your walls of precious stones. 13All your children shall be taught by the peace of your children. 14In righteousness you shall be established; You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; And from terror, for it shall not come near you. 15Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.

LORD, And great shall be the

16"Behold, I have created the blacksmith Who blows the coals in the fire, Who brings forth an instrument for his work; And I have created the spoiler to destroy. 17No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their

righteousness is from Me," Says the LORD.

Next October 1 Reading

Isaiah 55

October 2

I SAIAH 55:1–56:12

AN INVITATION TO ABUNDANT LIFE

1"Ho! Everyone who thirsts,

55:1 Everyone. The Servant's redemptive work and glorious kingdom is for the benefit of all who are willing to come (53:6). The prophet invites his readers to participate in the benefits obtained by the suffering of the Servant in chapter 53 and described in chapter 54. no money,…without money and without price. Benefits in the Servant's kingdom will be free because of His redemptive work (53:6, 8, 11; Eph. 2:8, 9). wine and milk. Symbols for abundance, satisfaction, and prosperity (Song 5:1; Joel 3:18).

Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price. 2Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. 3Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David. 4Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people. 5Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the LORD your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you."

6Seek the LORD while He may be found,

55:6, 7 Here is one of the clearest Old Testament invitations to salvation now and kingdom blessing later. It gives an excellent example of how people were saved during the Old Testament period. Salvation grace and mercy were available to the soul that was willing to 1) seek the Lord ( Deut. 4:29 ; 2 Chr. 15:4 ) and 2) call on Him while He is still available ( 65:1 ; Ps. 32:6 ; Prov. 8:17 ; Matt. 25:1–13). Such true seeking in faith is accompanied by repentance, which is described as forsaking ways and thoughts and turning from sinful living to the Lord. A sinner must come, believing in God, recognizing his sin, and desiring forgiveness and deliverance from that sin. At the same time he must recognize his own inability to be righteous or to satisfy God and cast himself on God's mercy. It is then that he receives a complete pardon. His sin has been covered by the substitution of the Messiah in his place (chap. 53).

Call upon Him while He is near. 7Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

8"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. 9"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

10"For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater,

11So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

12"For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace;

The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the LORD for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

Isaiah 56

SALVATION FOR THE GENTILES

1Thus says the LORD: "Keep justice, and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come, And My righteousness to be revealed. 2Blessed is the man who does this, And the son of man who lays hold on it; Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And keeps his hand from doing any evil."

3Do not let the son of the foreigner Who has joined himself to the LORD Speak, saying, "The LORD has utterly separated me from His people"; Nor let the

eunuch say, "Here I am, a dry tree." 4For thus says the LORD: "To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant, 5Even to them I will give in My house And within My walls a place and a name Better than that of sons and daughters; I will give thema an everlasting name That shall not be cut off. 6"Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, And to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants— Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant— 7Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." 8The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, "Yet I will gather to him Others besides those who are gathered to him."

ISRAEL'S IRRESPONSIBLE LEADERS

9All you beasts of the field, come to devour, All you beasts in the forest. 10His watchmen are blind, They are all ignorant; They are all dumb dogs, They cannot bark; Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. 11Yes, they are greedy dogs Which never have enough. And they are shepherds Who cannot understand; They all look to their own way, Every one for his own gain, From his own territory. 12"Come," one says, "I will bring wine, And we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink; Tomorrow will be as today, And much more abundant."

Next October 2 Reading

Isaiah 57

October 3

I SAIAH 57:1–58:14

ISRAEL'S FUTILE IDOLATRY

1The righteous perishes, And no man takes it to heart; Merciful men are taken away,

While no one considers That the righteous is taken away from evil. 2He shall enter into peace; They shall rest in their beds, Each one walking in his uprightness.

3"But come here, You sons of the sorceress, You offspring of the adulterer and the harlot! 4Whom do you ridicule? Against whom do you make a wide mouth And stick out the tongue? Are you not children of transgression, Offspring of falsehood, 5Inflaming yourselves with gods under every green tree, Slaying the children in the valleys, Under the clefts of the rocks? 6Among the smooth stones of the stream Is your portion; They, they, are your lot! Even to them you have poured a drink offering, You have offered a grain offering. Should I receive comfort in these? 7"On a lofty and high mountain You have set your bed;

Even there you went up To offer sacrifice. 8Also behind the doors and their posts You have set up your remembrance; For you have uncovered yourself to those other than Me, And have gone up

to them;

You have enlarged your bed And made a covenant with them; You have loved their bed, Where you saw their nudity.a

9You went to the king with ointment, And increased your perfumes; You sent your messengers far off, And even descended to Sheol. 10You are wearied in the length of your way; Yet you did not say, 'There is no hope.' You have found the life of your hand; Therefore you were not grieved.

11"And of whom have you been afraid, or feared, That you have lied And not remembered Me, Nor taken it to your heart? Is it not because I have held My peace from of old That you do not fear Me? 12I will declare your righteousness And your works, For they will not profit you. 13When you cry out, Let your collection of idols deliver you. But the wind will carry them all away, A breath will take them. But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, And shall

inherit My holy mountain."

HEALING FOR THE BACKSLIDER

14And one shall say, "Heap it up! Heap it up! Prepare the way, Take the stumbling block out of the way of My people."

15For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of

the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones. 16For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would fail before Me, And the souls which I have made. 17For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him; I hid and was angry, And he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. 18I have seen his ways, and will heal him; I will also lead him,

And restore comforts to him And to his mourners.

19"I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near," Says the LORD, "And I will heal him." 20But the wicked are like the troubled sea, When it cannot rest, Whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

21"There is no peace," Says my God, "for the wicked."

Isaiah 58

FASTING THAT PLEASES GOD

1"Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. 2Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God. 3'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and You have not seen?

58:3–7 Why…? The people complained when God did not recognize their religious actions, but God responded that their fastings had been only halfhearted. Hypocritical fasting resulted in contention, quarreling, and pretense, excluding the possibility of genuine prayer to God. Fasting consisted of more than just an outward ritual and a mock repentance. It involved penitence over sin and consequent humility, disconnecting from sin and oppression of others, feeding the hungry, and acting humanely toward those in need.

Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?'

"In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers. 4Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard on high. 5Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush,

And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the LORD?

6"Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? 7Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? 8Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. 9Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.'

"If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday. 11The LORD will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you

shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.

13"If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing

your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure,

Nor speaking your own words, 14Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD;

58:14 delight yourself in the LORD. Repentant ones walking in fellowship with the Lord experience satisfaction of soul (Ps. 37:4). Their satisfaction will not come from material goods.

And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed

you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken."

Next October 3 Reading

Isaiah 59

October 4

I SAIAH 59:1–60:22

SEPARATED FROM GOD

1Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. 2But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. 3For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity.

4No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. 5They hatch vipers' eggs and weave the spider's web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.

6Their webs will not become garments, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of iniquity, And the act of violence is in their hands. 7Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths. 8The way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.

SIN CONFESSED

9Therefore justice is far from us, Nor does righteousness overtake us; We look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness! 10We grope for the wall like the blind, And we grope as if we had no eyes; We stumble at noonday as at twilight; We are as dead men in desolate places. 11We all growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves; We look for justice, but there is none; For salvation, but it is far from us. 12For our transgressions are multiplied before You, And our sins testify against us; For our transgressions are with us, And as for our iniquities, we know them: 13In transgressing and lying against the LORD, And departing from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. 14Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands afar off; For truth is fallen in the street, And equity cannot enter. 15So truth fails,

59:15, 16 the LORD saw…no intercessor. The Lord was aware of Israel's tragic condition and of the absence of anyone to intervene on His behalf. The Lord took it on Himself to change Israel's condition through the intervention of His Suffering Servant (53:12).

And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

THE REDEEMER OF ZION

Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him That there was no justice.

16He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him. 17For He put on righteousness as a breastplate,

59:17 righteousness as a breastplate…helmet of salvation. Figuratively speaking, the Lord armed Himself for the deliverance of His people and for taking vengeance on enemies who would seek His destruction. Paul drew on this terminology in describing a believer's spiritual preparation for warding off the attacks of Satan (Eph. 6:14, 17; 1 Thess. 5:8).

And a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, And was clad with zeal as a cloak. 18According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, Fury to His adversaries, Recompense to His enemies; The coastlands He will fully repay. 19So shall they fear The name of the LORD from the west, And His glory from the rising of

the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.

20"The Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob," Says the LORD.

21"As for Me," says the LORD, "this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants," says the LORD, "from this time and forevermore."

Isaiah 60

THE GENTILES BLESS ZION

1Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. 2For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. 3The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.

4"Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you; Your sons shall come from afar, And your daughters shall be nursed at your side. 5Then you shall see and become radiant, And your heart shall swell with joy; Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, The

wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. 6The multitude of camels shall cover your land, The dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; All those from Sheba shall come; They shall bring gold and incense, And they shall proclaim the praises of the LORD. 7All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, The rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; They shall ascend with acceptance on My altar, And I will glorify the house of My glory.

8"Who are these who fly like a cloud, And like doves to their roosts? 9Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me; And the ships of Tarshish will come first, To bring your sons from afar, Their silver and their gold with them, To the name of the LORD your God, And to the Holy One of Israel, Because He has glorified you.

10"The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, And their kings shall minister to you; For in My wrath I struck you, But in My favor I have had mercy on you. 11Therefore your gates shall be open continually; They shall not be shut day or night, That men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, And their

kings in procession. 12For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, And those nations shall be utterly ruined.

13"The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, The cypress, the pine, and the box tree together, To beautify the place of My sanctuary; And I will make the place of My feet glorious. 14Also the sons of those who afflicted you Shall come bowing to you, And all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of

your feet; And they shall call you The City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

15"Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, So that no one went through you, I will make you an eternal excellence, A joy of many generations. 16You shall drink the milk of the Gentiles, And milk the breast of kings; You shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior And your Redeemer, the

Mighty One of Jacob.

17"Instead of bronze I will bring gold, Instead of iron I will bring silver, Instead of wood, bronze, And instead of stones, iron. I will also make your officers peace, And your magistrates righteousness. 18Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, Neither wasting nor destruction within your borders; But you shall call your walls Salvation, And your gates Praise.

GOD THE GLORY OF HIS PEOPLE

19"The sun shall no longer be your light by day,

60:19 sun shall no longer…everlasting light. Isaiah, looking beyond the millennial kingdom, sees a view of the New Jerusalem following the Millennium (Rev. 21:23; 22:5). His prophetic perspective did not allow him to distinguish the eternal phase of the future kingdom from the temporal one, just as the Old Testament prophets could not distinguish between the First and Second Advent of Christ (1 Pet. 1:10, 11).

Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; But the LORD will be to you an everlasting light, And your God your glory. 20Your sun shall no longer go down, Nor shall your moon withdraw itself; For the LORD will be your everlasting light, And the days of your mourning

shall be ended. 21Also your people shall all be righteous; They shall inherit the land forever, The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified. 22A little one shall become a thousand, And a small one a strong nation. I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time."

Next October 4 Reading

Isaiah 61

October 5

I SAIAH 61:1–62:12

THE GOOD NEWS OF SALVATION

1"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,

61:1, 2 The Spirit…acceptable year of the LORD. The Servant of the Lord (42:1) will be the ultimate Preacher and the Redeemer of Israel who rescues them. Jesus speaks of the initial fulfillment of this promise, referring it to His ministry of providing salvation's comfort to the spiritually oppressed ( Luke 4:18 , 19 ). He says specifically, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:21). The Jews who were saved during Christ's ministry, and those being saved during this church age still do not fulfill the promise of the salvation of the nation to come in the end time (Zech. 12:10–13:1; Rom. 11:25–27).

Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2To proclaim the

acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."

4And they shall rebuild the old ruins, They shall raise up the former desolations, And they shall repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations. 5Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, And the sons of the foreigner Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.

LORD, They shall call you the

6But you shall be named the priests of the

servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, And in their glory you shall boast. 7Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; Everlasting joy shall be theirs.

8"For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offering; I will direct their work in truth, And will make with them an everlasting covenant. 9Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, And their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, That they are the posterity whom the LORD has blessed."

10I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,

61:10 clothed me…covered me. Here is the Old Testament picture of imputed righteousness, the essential heart of the New Covenant. When a penitent sinner recognizes he can't achieve his own righteousness by works ( Rom. 3:19–22 ; 2 Cor. 5:21 ; Phil. 3:8 , 9 ) and repents and calls on the mercy of God, the Lord covers him with His own divine righteousness by grace through his faith.

My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has

covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11For as the earth brings forth its bud, As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

Isaiah 62

ASSURANCE OF ZION'S SALVATION

1For Zion's sake I will not hold My peace, And for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, And her salvation as a lamp that burns. 2The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, And all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name, Which the mouth of the LORD will name. 3You shall also be a crown of glory In the hand of the LORD,

And a royal diadem In the hand of your God. 4You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, Nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate; But you shall be called Hephzibah,a and your land Beulah;b For the LORD delights in you, And your land shall be married. 5For as a young man marries a virgin, So shall your sons marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God

rejoice over you.

6I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the LORD, do not keep silent, 7And give

Him no rest till He establishes And till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

8The LORD has sworn by His right hand And by the arm of His strength: "Surely I will no longer give your grain As food for your enemies; And the sons of the foreigner shall not drink your new wine, For

which you have labored. 9But those who have gathered it shall eat it, And praise the LORD; Those who have brought it together shall drink it in My holy courts."

10Go through, Go through the gates! Prepare the way for the people; Build up, Build up the highway! Take out the stones, Lift up a banner for the peoples!

11Indeed the LORD has proclaimed To the end of the world: "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Surely your salvation is coming; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him.' " 12And they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; And you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.

Next October 5 Reading

Isaiah 63

October 6

I SAIAH 63:1–64:12

THE LORD IN JUDGMENT AND SALVATION 1WHO IS THIS WHO COMES FROM

EDOM, WITH DYED GARMENTS FROM BOZRAH,

This One who is glorious in His apparel, Traveling in the greatness of His strength?—

"I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save."

2Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?

3"I have trodden the winepress alone, And from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, And trampled them in My fury; Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, And I have stained all My robes. 4For the day of vengeance is in My heart, And the year of My redeemed has come. 5I looked, but there was no one to help, And I wondered That there was no one to uphold; Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me; And My own fury, it sustained Me. 6I have trodden down the peoples in My anger, Made them drunk in My fury, And brought down their strength to the earth."

GOD'S MERCY REMEMBERED

7I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD

63:7 lovingkindnesses…lovingkindnesses. All the plurals in this verse imply that language is inadequate to recite all the goodness and undeserved mercies God has showered on the nation time after time because of His everlasting covenant with them. By His elective choice, they became His people and He their Savior (43:1, 3). This guarantees that they will not always be false ("lie"), but someday true and faithful to God because of His sovereign election of them.

And the praises of the LORD, According to all that the LORD has bestowed

on us, And the great goodness toward the house of Israel, Which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies,

According to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses. 8For He said, "Surely they are My people, Children who will not lie." So He became their Savior. 9In all their affliction He was afflicted, And the Angel of His Presence saved them; In His love and in His pity He redeemed them; And He bore them and carried them All the days of old. 10But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; So He turned Himself against them as an enemy, And He fought against them.

11Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying: "Where is He who brought them up out of the sea With the shepherd of His

flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit within them, 12Who led them

by the right hand of Moses, With His glorious arm,

Dividing the water before them To make for Himself an everlasting name, 13Who led them through the deep, As a horse in the wilderness, That they might not stumble?"

14As a beast goes down into the valley, And the Spirit of the LORD causes him to rest, So You lead Your people, To make Yourself a glorious name.

A PRAYER OF PENITENCE

15Look down from heaven, And see from Your habitation, holy and glorious. Where are Your zeal and Your strength, The yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me? Are they restrained? 16Doubtless You are our Father, Though Abraham was ignorant of us, And Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name. 17O LORD, why have You made us stray from Your ways, And hardened our heart from Your fear? Return for Your servants' sake, The tribes of Your inheritance. 18Your holy people have possessed it but a little while; Our adversaries have trodden down Your sanctuary. 19We have become like those of old, over whom You never ruled, Those who were never called by Your name.

Isaiah 64

1Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence— 2As fire burns brushwood, As fire causes water to boil— To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence! 3When You did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down, The mountains shook at Your presence. 4For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him. 5You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned— In these ways we continue; And we need to be saved.

6But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. 7And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities.

8But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand. 9Do not be furious, O LORD, Nor remember iniquity forever; Indeed, please look—we all are Your people!

10Your holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. 11Our holy and beautiful temple,

64:11 burned up with fire;…laid waste. Through prophetic revelation Isaiah uttered these words many years before the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple in 586 B.C. Yet he lamented over the fallen state as though it had already occurred. God's people were in desperate straits and their prayers urgent and persistent: "How can You stand by when Your people and Your land are so barren?"

Where our fathers praised You, Is burned up with fire; And all our pleasant things are laid waste. 12Will You restrain Yourself because of these things, O LORD? Will You hold Your peace, and afflict us very severely?

Next October 6 Reading

Isaiah 65

October 7

I SAIAH 65:1–66:24

THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD'S JUDGMENT

1"I was sought by those who did not ask for Me;

65:1 not ask…not seek…not called. Though Israel sought the Lord, they did so only superficially. They did not genuinely seek Him. The New Testament assigns an additional sense to the words in Romans 10:20, applying them to Gentiles who find Him through the work of His sovereign grace.

I was found by those who did not seek Me. I said, 'Here I am, here I am,' To a nation that was not called by My name. 2I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way that is not good, According to their own thoughts; 3A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face; Who sacrifice in gardens, And burn incense on altars of brick; 4Who sit among the graves, And spend the night in the tombs; Who eat swine's flesh,

And the broth of abominable things is in their vessels; 5Who say, 'Keep to

yourself, Do not come near me, For I am holier than you!' These are smoke in My nostrils, A fire that burns all the day.

6"Behold, it is written before Me: I will not keep silence, but will repay— Even repay into their bosom— 7Your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together," Says the LORD, "Who have burned incense on the mountains And blasphemed Me on the hills; Therefore I will measure their former work into their bosom."

8Thus says the LORD: "As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, 'Do not destroy it, For a blessing is in it,' So will I do for My servants' sake, That I may not destroy them all. 9I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, And from Judah an heir of My mountains; My elect shall inherit it, And My servants shall dwell there. 10Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, And the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, For My people who have sought Me.

11"But you are those who forsake the LORD, Who forget My holy mountain, Who prepare a table for Gad,a

And who furnish a drink offering for Meni.b

12Therefore I will number you for the sword, And you shall all bow down to the slaughter; Because, when I called, you did not answer; When I spoke, you did not hear, But did evil before My eyes, And chose that in which I do not delight."

13Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, My servants shall eat, But you shall be hungry; Behold, My servants shall drink, But you shall be thirsty; Behold, My servants shall rejoice,

But you shall be ashamed; 14Behold, My servants shall sing for joy of heart, But you shall cry for sorrow of heart, And wail for grief of spirit. 15You shall leave your name as a curse to My chosen; For the Lord GOD will slay you, And call His servants by another name; 16So that he who blesses himself in the earth Shall bless himself in the God of truth; And he who swears in the earth Shall swear by the God of truth; Because the former troubles are forgotten, And because they are hidden from My eyes.

THE GLORIOUS NEW CREATION

17"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. 18But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, And her people a joy. 19I will rejoice in Jerusalem, And joy in My people; The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, Nor the voice

of crying.

20"No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed. 21They shall build houses and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, And My

elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23They shall not labor in vain, Nor bring forth children for trouble; For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the LORD, And

their offspring with them.

24"It shall come to pass That before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, The lion shall eat straw like the ox, And dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain," Says the LORD.

Isaiah 66

TRUE WORSHIP AND FALSE

1Thus says the LORD:

66:1, 2 Isaiah began the final summary of his prophecy with a reminder that God is not looking for a temple of stone, since as Creator of all things, the whole universe is His dwelling place. Stephen cited this passage before the Sanhedrin to point out their error in limiting God to a temple made with hands (Acts 7:49, 50). On the contrary, God is looking for a heart to dwell in, a heart that is tender and broken, not one concerned with the externalities of religion. God is looking to dwell in the heart of a person who takes His Word seriously.

"Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? 2For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist," Says the LORD. "But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word.

3"He who kills a bull is as if he slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb, as if he breaks a dog's neck; He who offers a grain offering, as if he offers swine's blood; He who burns incense, as if he blesses an idol. Just as they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their abominations, 4So will I choose their delusions, And bring their fears on them; Because, when I called, no one answered, When I spoke they did not hear;

But they did evil before My eyes, And chose that in which I do not delight."

THE LORD VINDICATES ZION 5HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD, YOU WHO

TREMBLE AT HIS WORD:

"Your brethren who hated you, Who cast you out for My name's sake, said, 'Let the LORD be glorified, That we may see your joy.' But they shall be ashamed."

6The sound of noise from the city! A voice from the temple! The voice of the LORD, Who fully repays His enemies!

7"Before she was in labor, she gave birth; Before her pain came, She delivered a male child. 8Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, She gave birth to her children. 9Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?" says the LORD. "Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?" says your God.

10"Rejoice with Jerusalem, And be glad with her, all you who love her; Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her; 11That you may feed and be satisfied With the consolation of her bosom, That you may drink deeply and be delighted With the abundance of her glory."

12For thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, And the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then you shall feed; On her sides shall you be carried,

And be dandled on her knees. 13As one whom his mother comforts, So I will comfort you; And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem."

THE REIGN AND INDIGNATION OF GOD

14When you see this, your heart shall rejoice, And your bones shall flourish like grass; The hand of the LORD shall be known to His servants, And His

indignation to His enemies. 15For behold, the LORD will come with fire And with His chariots, like a whirlwind, To render His anger with fury, And His rebuke with flames of fire. 16For by fire and by His sword The LORD will judge all flesh; And the slain of the LORD shall be many.

17"Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves, To go to the gardens After an idol in the midst, Eating swine's flesh and the abomination and the mouse, Shall be

consumed together," says the LORD. 18"For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all

nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory. 19I will set a sign among them; and those among them who escape I will send to the nations: to Tarshish and Pula and Lud, who draw the bow, and Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off who have not heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. 20Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the LORD out of all nations, on horses and in chariots and in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem," says the LORD, "as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD. 21And I will also take some of them for priests and Levites," says the LORD.

22"For as the new heavens and the new earth Which I will make shall remain before Me," says the LORD, "So shall your descendants and your name remain.

23And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me," says the LORD.

24"And they shall go forth and look Upon the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, And their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh."

Next October 7 Reading

The Book of Jeremiah

Jeremiah 1

October 8

J EREMIAH 1:1–2:37

1The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in

Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, 2to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

THE PROPHET IS CALLED

4Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: 5"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;

1:5 Before I formed you… This is not reincarnation; it is God's allknowing cognizance of Jeremiah and sovereign plan for him before he was conceived (Paul's similar realization, Gal. 1:15).

Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

6Then said I:

"Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth."

7But the LORD said to me:

"Do not say, 'I am a youth,' For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you," says the LORD.

9Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me: "Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.

10See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, To root out and to pull down, To destroy and to throw down, To build and to plant."

11Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?"

And I said, "I see a branch of an almond tree." 12Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word."

13And the word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, "What do you see?"

And I said, "I see a boiling pot, and it is facing away from the

north." 14Then the LORD said to me:

"Out of the north calamity shall break forth On all the inhabitants of the land. 15For behold, I am calling All the families of the kingdoms of the north," says the LORD; "They

shall come and each one set his throne At the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, Against all its walls all around, And against all the cities of Judah. 16I will utter My judgments Against them concerning all their wickedness, Because they have forsaken Me, Burned incense to other gods, And worshiped the works of their own hands.

17"Therefore prepare yourself and arise, And speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before their faces, Lest I dismay you before them. 18For behold, I have made you this day A fortified city and an iron pillar, And bronze walls against the whole land— Against the kings of Judah, Against its princes, Against its priests, And against the people of the land. 19They will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you," says the LORD, "to deliver you."

Jeremiah 2

GOD'S CASE AGAINST ISRAEL

1Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2"Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the LORD: "I remember you,

The kindness of your youth, The love of your betrothal, When you went after Me in the wilderness, In a land not sown. 3Israel was holiness to the LORD, The firstfruits of His increase. All that devour him will offend; Disaster will come upon them," says the LORD.' "

4Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob and all the families of the house

of Israel. 5Thus says the LORD: "What injustice have your fathers found in Me,

That they have gone far from Me, Have followed idols, And have become idolaters? 6Neither did they say, 'Where is the LORD, Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, Through a land of deserts and pits, Through a land of drought and the shadow of death, Through a land that no one crossed And where no one dwelt?' 7I brought you into a bountiful country, To eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land And made My heritage an abomination. 8The priests did not say, 'Where is the LORD?' And those who handle the law did not know Me; The rulers also transgressed against Me;

The prophets prophesied by Baal, And walked after things that do not profit.

9"Therefore I will yet bring charges against you," says the against your children's children I will bring charges. 10For pass beyond the coasts of Cyprusa and see, Send to Kedarb and consider diligently, And see if there has been such a thing. 11Has a nation changed its gods, Which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory For what does not profit. 12Be astonished, O heavens, at this, And be horribly afraid; Be very desolate," says the LORD. 13"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.

LORD, "And

14"Is Israel a servant? Is he a homeborn slave? Why is he plundered? 15The young lions roared at him, and growled; They made his land waste; His cities are burned, without inhabitant. 16Also the people of Nopha and Tahpanhes Have broken the crown of your head. 17Have you not brought this on yourself, In that you have forsaken the LORD your God When He led you in the way? 18And now why take the road to Egypt, To drink the waters of Sihor? Or why take the road to Assyria, To drink the waters of the River?a

19Your own wickedness will correct you, And your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing That you

have forsaken the LORD your God, And the fear of Me is not in you," Says the Lord GOD of hosts.

20"For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds; And you said,

'I will not transgress,' When on every high hill and under every green tree You lay down, playing the harlot. 21Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me Into the degenerate plant of an alien vine? 22For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, Yet your iniquity is marked before Me," says the Lord GOD.

23"How can you say, 'I am not polluted, I have not gone after the Baals'? See your way in the valley; Know what you have done: You are a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways, 24A wild donkey used to the wilderness, That sniffs at the wind in her desire; In her time of mating, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves; In her month they will find her. 25Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, 'There is no hope. No! For I have loved aliens, and after them I will go.'

26"As the thief is ashamed when he is found out, So is the house of Israel ashamed; They and their kings and their princes, and their priests and their prophets,

27Saying to a tree, 'You are my father,' And to a stone, 'You gave birth to me.' For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble They will say, 'Arise and save us.' 28But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, If they can save you in the time of your trouble; For according to the number of your cities Are your gods, O Judah.

29"Why will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me," says the LORD. 30"In vain I have chastened your children; They received no correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets

Like a destroying lion.

31"O generation, see the word of the LORD! Have I been a wilderness to Israel, Or a land of darkness? Why do My people say, 'We are lords; We will come no more to You'? 32Can a virgin forget her ornaments, Or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.

33"Why do you beautify your way to seek love?

Therefore you have also taught The wicked women your ways. 34Also on your skirts is found The blood of the lives of the poor innocents. I have not found it by secret search, But plainly on all these things. 35Yet you say, 'Because I am innocent, Surely His anger shall turn from me.' Behold, I will plead My case against you, Because you say, 'I have not sinned.' 36Why do you gad about so much to change your way? Also you shall be ashamed of Egypt as you were ashamed of Assyria. 37Indeed you will go forth from him With your hands on your head; For the LORD has rejected your trusted allies, And you will not

prosper by them.

Next October 8 Reading

Jeremiah 3

October 9

J EREMIAH 3:1–4:31

ISRAEL IS SHAMELESS

1"They say, 'If a man divorces his wife,

And she goes from him And becomes another man's, May he return to her again?' Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me," says the LORD.

2"Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see: Where have you not lain with men? By the road you have sat for them Like an Arabian in the wilderness; And you have polluted the land With your harlotries and your wickedness. 3Therefore the showers have been withheld, And there has been no latter rain. You have had a harlot's forehead; You refuse to be ashamed. 4Will you not from this time cry to Me, 'My Father, You are the guide of my youth? 5Will He remain angry forever? Will He keep it to the end?' Behold, you have spoken and done evil things, As you were able."

A CALL TO REPENTANCE

6The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: "Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. 7And I said, after she had done all these things, 'Return to Me.' But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet

her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. 9So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and

committed adultery with stones and trees. 10And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense," says the LORD.

11Then the LORD said to me, "Backsliding Israel has shown herself more

righteous than treacherous Judah. 12Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: 'Return, backsliding Israel,' says the LORD; 'I will not cause My anger to fall on you.

For I am merciful,' says the LORD; 'I will not remain angry forever. 13Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the LORD your God, And have

scattered your charms To alien deities under every green tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,' says the LORD.

14"Return, O backsliding children," says the LORD; "for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 15And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

3:14 I am married to you. God pictured His covenant relationship with Israel as a marriage and pleaded with mercy for Judah to repent and return. He will take her back. Hosea's restoration of Gomer was a picture of God taking back

His wicked, adulterous people.

16"Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days," says the LORD, "that they will say no more, 'The ark of the covenant of the LORD.' It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore.

17"At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts.

18"In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers.

19"But I said:

'How can I put you among the children And give you a pleasant land, A beautiful heritage of the hosts of nations?'

"And I said:

'You shall call Me, "My Father," And not turn away from Me.' 20Surely, as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, So have you dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel," says the LORD.

21A voice was heard on the desolate heights, Weeping and supplications of the children of Israel. For they have perverted their way; They have forgotten the LORD their God.

22"Return, you backsliding children, And I will heal your backslidings."

"Indeed we do come to You, For You are the LORD our God.

23Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, And from the multitude of mountains; Truly, in the LORD our God Is the salvation of Israel. 24For shame has devoured The labor of our fathers from our youth— Their flocks and their herds, Their sons and their daughters. 25We lie down in our shame, And our reproach covers us. For we have sinned against the LORD our God, We and our fathers, From our youth even to this day, And have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God."

Jeremiah 4

1"If you will return, O Israel," says the LORD, "Return to Me; And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, Then you shall not be moved. 2And you shall swear, 'The LORD lives,' In truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; The nations shall bless themselves in Him, And in Him they shall glory."

3For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: "Break up your fallow ground,

And do not sow among thorns. 4Circumcise yourselves to the LORD,

4:4 Circumcise. This surgery (Gen. 17:10–14) was to cut away flesh that could hold disease in its folds and could pass the disease on to wives. It was important for the preservation of God's people physically. But it was also a symbol of the need for the heart to be cleansed from sin's deadly disease. The essential surgery needed to happen on the inside, where God calls for taking away fleshly things that keep the heart from being spiritually devoted to Him and from true faith in Him and His will. Jeremiah later expanded on this theme (31:31–34).

And take away the foreskins of your hearts, You men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My fury come forth like fire, And burn so that no one can quench it, Because of the evil of your doings."

AN IMMINENT INVASION

5Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: "Blow the trumpet in the land;

Cry, 'Gather together,' And say, 'Assemble yourselves, And let us go into the fortified cities.' 6Set up the standard toward Zion. Take refuge! Do not delay! For I will bring disaster from the north, And great destruction." 7The lion has come up from his thicket, And the destroyer of nations is on his way. He has gone forth from his place To make your land desolate. Your cities will be laid waste, Without inhabitant. 8For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, Lament and wail. For the fierce anger of the LORD Has not turned back from us.

9"And it shall come to pass in that day," says the LORD, "That the heart of the king shall perish, And the heart of the princes; The priests shall be astonished, And the prophets shall wonder."

10Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, Saying, 'You shall have peace,' Whereas the sword reaches to the heart."

11At that time it will be said To this people and to Jerusalem, "A dry wind of the desolate heights blows in the wilderness Toward the daughter of My people— Not to fan or to cleanse— 12A wind too strong for these will come for Me; Now I will also speak

judgment against them."

13"Behold, he shall come up like clouds, And his chariots like a whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are plundered!"

14O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, That you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you? 15For a voice declares from Dan And proclaims affliction from Mount Ephraim: 16"Make mention to the nations, Yes, proclaim against Jerusalem, That watchers come from a far country And raise their voice against the cities of Judah. 17Like keepers of a field they are against her all around, Because she has been rebellious against Me," says the LORD. 18"Your ways and your doings Have procured these things for you. This is your wickedness, Because it is bitter, Because it reaches to your heart."

SORROW FOR THE DOOMED NATION

19O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart! My heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, Because you have heard, O my soul, The sound of the trumpet, The alarm of war. 20Destruction upon destruction is cried, For the whole land is plundered. Suddenly my tents are plundered, And my curtains in a moment. 21How long will I see the standard, And hear the sound of the trumpet?

22"For My people are foolish, They have not known Me. They are silly children, And they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, But to do good they have no knowledge."

23I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void; And the heavens, they had no light. 24I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, And all the hills moved back and forth. 25I beheld, and indeed there was no man, And all the birds of the heavens had fled. 26I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, And all its cities were broken down At the presence of the LORD, By His fierce anger.

27For thus says the LORD:

"The whole land shall be desolate; Yet I will not make a full end.

28For this shall the earth mourn, And the heavens above be black, Because I have spoken. I have purposed and will not relent, Nor will I turn back from it. 29The whole city shall flee from the noise of the horsemen and bowmen. They shall go into thickets and climb up on the rocks. Every city shall be forsaken, And not a man shall dwell in it.

30"And when you are plundered, What will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, Though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, Though you enlarge your eyes with paint, In vain you will make yourself fair; Your lovers will despise you; They will seek your life.

31"For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, The anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, The voice of the daughter of Zion bewailing herself; She spreads her hands, saying, 'Woe is me now, for my soul is weary Because of murderers!'

Next October 9 Reading

Jeremiah 5

October 10

J EREMIAH 5:1–6:30

THE JUSTICE OF GOD'S JUDGMENT

1"Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem; See now and know; And seek in her open places If you can find a man, If there is anyone who executes judgment, Who seeks the truth, And I will pardon her. 2Though they say, 'As the LORD lives,' Surely they swear falsely."

3O LORD, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, But they have not grieved; You have consumed them, But they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to return.

4Therefore I said, "Surely these are poor. They are foolish; For they do not know the way of the LORD, The judgment of their God. 5I will go to the great men and speak to them, For they have known the way of the LORD, The judgment of their God."

But these have altogether broken the yoke

And burst the bonds. 6Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them, A wolf of the deserts shall destroy them; A leopard will watch over their cities. Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces, Because their transgressions are many; Their backslidings have increased.

7"How shall I pardon you for this?

Your children have forsaken Me And sworn by those that are not gods. When I had fed them to the full,

Then they committed adultery And assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. 8They were like well-fed lusty stallions; Every one neighed after his neighbor's wife. 9Shall I not punish them for these things?" says the LORD. "And shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

10"Go up on her walls and destroy,

5:10 not the LORD's. The people, depicted as vine branches to be destroyed (11:16, 17), did not genuinely know the Lord in a saving relationship, but had forsaken Him and given allegiance to other gods. The description of having eyes but not seeing and ears but not hearing (v. 21) is used by Isaiah (6:9) and Jesus Christ (Matt. 13:13) for such false professors as these branches. Jesus also referred to false branches which were burned (John 15:2, 6).

But do not make a complete end. Take away her branches, For they are not the LORD's. 11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah Have dealt very treacherously with Me," says the LORD.

12They have lied about the LORD, And said, "It is not He. Neither will evil come upon us, Nor shall we see sword or famine. 13And the prophets become wind, For the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them."

14Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts: "Because you speak this word, Behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire, And this people wood, And it shall devour them. 15Behold, I will bring a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel,"

says the LORD. "It is a mighty nation, It is an ancient nation, A nation whose language you do not know, Nor can you understand what they say. 16Their quiver is like an open tomb; They are all mighty men. 17And they shall eat up your harvest and your bread, Which your sons and daughters should eat. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds; They shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; They shall destroy your fortified cities, In which you trust, with the sword.

18"Nevertheless in those days," says the LORD, "I will not make a complete

end of you. 19And it will be when you say, 'Why does the LORD our God do all these things to us?' then you shall answer them, 'Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve aliens in a land that is not yours.'

20"Declare this in the house of Jacob And proclaim it in Judah, saying, 21'Hear this now, O foolish people, Without understanding, Who have eyes and see not, And who have ears and hear not: 22Do you not fear Me?' says the LORD. 'Will you not tremble at My presence, Who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea, By a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it? And though its waves toss to and fro, Yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it. 23But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart; They have revolted and departed. 24They do not say in their heart, "Let us now fear the LORD our God, Who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest." 25Your iniquities have turned these things away, And your sins have withheld good from you.

26'For among My people are found wicked men; They lie in wait as one who sets snares; They set a trap; They catch men. 27As a cage is full of birds, So their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become great and grown rich. 28They have grown fat, they are sleek; Yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked; They do not plead the cause, The cause of the fatherless; Yet they prosper, And the right of the needy they do not defend. 29Shall I not punish them for these things?' says the LORD. 'Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?'

30"An astonishing and horrible thing Has been committed in the land: 31The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?

Jeremiah 6

IMPENDING DESTRUCTION FROM THE NORTH

1"O you children of Benjamin, Gather yourselves to flee from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, And set up a signal-fire in Beth Haccerem; For disaster appears out of the north, And great destruction. 2I have likened the daughter of Zion To a lovely and delicate woman. 3The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her. They shall pitch their tents against her all around. Each one shall pasture in his own place."

4"Prepare war against her; Arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us, for the day goes away, For the shadows of the evening are lengthening. 5Arise, and let us go by night, And let us destroy her palaces."

6For thus has the LORD of hosts said: "Cut down trees, And build a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished. She is full of oppression in her midst. 7As a fountain wells up with water, So she wells up with her wickedness. Violence and plundering are heard in her. Before Me continually are grief and wounds. 8Be instructed, O Jerusalem, Lest My soul depart from you; Lest I make you desolate, A land not inhabited."

9Thus says the LORD of hosts:

"They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel; As a grape-gatherer, put your hand back into the branches."

10To whom shall I speak and give warning, That they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised, And they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the LORD is a reproach to them; They have no

delight in it. 11Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD. I am weary of holding it in. "I will pour it out on the children outside, And on the assembly of young men together; For even the husband shall be taken with the wife, The aged with him who is full of days. 12And their houses shall be turned over to others, Fields and wives together; For I will stretch out My hand Against the inhabitants of the land," says the LORD. 13"Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them, Everyone is given to covetousness; And from the prophet even to the priest, Everyone deals falsely. 14They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly,

6:14 'Peace, peace!' Wicked leaders among the prophets and priests (v. 13) proclaimed peace falsely and gave weak and brief comfort. They provided no true healing from the spiritual wound, not having discernment to deal with the sin and its effects (v. 15). The need was to return to obedience (v. 16).

Saying, 'Peace, peace!' When there is no peace. 15Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time I punish them, They shall be cast down," says the LORD.

16Thus says the LORD:

"Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.' 17Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Listen to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, 'We will not listen.' 18Therefore hear, you nations, And know, O congregation, what is among them. 19Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people— The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words Nor My law, but rejected it. 20For what purpose to Me Comes frankincense from Sheba, And sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, Nor your sacrifices sweet to Me."

21Therefore thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people,

And the fathers and the sons together shall fall on them. The neighbor and his friend shall perish."

22Thus says the LORD:

"Behold, a people comes from the north country, And a great nation will be raised from the farthest parts of the earth. 23They will lay hold on bow and spear; They are cruel and have no mercy; Their voice roars like the sea; And they ride on horses, As men of war set in array against you, O daughter of Zion."

24We have heard the report of it; Our hands grow feeble.

Anguish has taken hold of us, Pain as of a woman in labor. 25Do not go out into the field, Nor walk by the way. Because of the sword of the enemy, Fear is on every side. 26O daughter of my people,

Dress in sackcloth And roll about in ashes! Make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; For the plunderer will suddenly come upon us.

27"I have set you as an assayer and a fortress among My people, That you may know and test their way. 28They are all stubborn rebels, walking as slanderers. They are bronze and iron, They are all corrupters; 29The bellows blow fiercely, The lead is consumed by the fire; The smelter refines in vain, For the wicked are not drawn off. 30People will call them rejected silver, Because the LORD has rejected them."

Next October 10 Reading

Jeremiah 7

October 11

J EREMIAH 7:1–8:22

TRUSTING IN LYING WORDS

1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2"Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD!' " 3Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4Do not trust in these lying words, saying, 'The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these.'

7:1 The word that came. This was Jeremiah's first temple sermon (v. 2); another is found in chapter 26. God was aroused against the sins He names (vv. 6, 19), especially at His temple becoming a den of thieves (v. 11). The point of this message, however, was that if Israel would repent, even at this late hour, God would still keep the conqueror from coming (vv. 3, 7). They must reject lies such as the false hope that peace is certain, based on the reasoning that the Lord would never bring calamity on His own temple (v. 4). They must turn from their sins (vv. 3, 5, 9) and end their hypocrisy (v. 10).

5"For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly

execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, 6if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, 7then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

8"Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. 9Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, which is called by My

10and then come and stand before Me in this house name, and say, 'We are delivered to do all these

abominations'? 11Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it," says the LORD.

12"But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the

first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 13And now, because you have done all these works," says the LORD, "and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer, 14therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. 15And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren—the whole posterity of Ephraim.

16"Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor

make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you. 17Do you not see what they do

in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. 19Do they provoke Me to anger?" says the LORD. "Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?"

7:18 the queen of heaven. The Jews were worshiping Ishtar, an Assyrian and Babylonian goddess also called Ashtoreth and Astarte, the wife of Baal or Molech. Because these deities symbolized generative power, their worship involved prostitution.

20Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place—on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched."

21Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Add your burnt offerings to

your sacrifices and eat meat. 22For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 23But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the

ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.' 24Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. 25Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. 26Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.

7:22 I did not…command. Bible writers sometimes use apparent negation to make a comparative emphasis. What God commanded His people at the Exodus was not so much the offerings as it was the heart obedience which prompted the offerings.

27"Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.

JUDGMENT ON OBSCENE RELIGION

28"So you shall say to them, 'This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the

LORD their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off

from their mouth. 29Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of

His wrath.' 30For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight," says the

LORD. "They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My

name, to pollute it. 31And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.

32"Therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room. 33The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frighten them away. 34Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For the land shall be desolate.

Jeremiah 8

1"At that time," says the LORD, "they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. 2They shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked, which they have sought and which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered nor buried; they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. 3Then death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them," says the LORD of hosts.

THE PERIL OF FALSE TEACHING

4"Moreover you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD: "Will they fall and not rise?

Will one turn away and not return? 5Why has this people slidden back, Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit, They refuse to return. 6I listened and heard, But they do not speak aright. No man repented of his wickedness, Saying, 'What have I done?' Everyone turned to his own course, As the horse rushes into the battle.

7"Even the stork in the heavens Knows her appointed times; And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow Observe the time of their coming. But My people do not know the judgment of the LORD.

8"How can you say, 'We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us'? Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood. 9The wise men are ashamed, They are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD; So what wisdom do

they have? 10Therefore I will give their wives to others, And their fields to those who will inherit them; Because from the least even to the greatest Everyone is given to covetousness; From the prophet even to the priest Everyone deals falsely. 11For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, Saying, 'Peace, peace!' When there is no peace.

12Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; In the time of their punishment They shall be cast down," says the LORD.

13"I will surely consume them," says the LORD. "No grapes shall be on the vine, Nor figs on the fig tree, And the leaf shall fade; And the things I have given them shall pass away from them." ' "

14"Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, And let us enter the fortified cities, And let us be silent there. For the LORD our God has put us to silence And given us water of gall to drink, Because we have sinned against the LORD.

15"We looked for peace, but no good came; And for a time of health, and there was trouble! 16The snorting of His horses was heard from Dan. The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of His strong ones;

For they have come and devoured the land and all that is in it, The city and those who dwell in it."

17"For behold, I will send serpents among you, Vipers which cannot be charmed, And they shall bite you," says the LORD.

THE PROPHET MOURNS FOR THE PEOPLE

18I would comfort myself in sorrow; My heart is faint in me. 19Listen! The voice, The cry of the daughter of my people From a far country:

"Is not the LORD in Zion? Is not her King in her?"

"Why have they provoked Me to anger With their carved images— With foreign idols?"

20"The harvest is past, The summer is ended, And we are not saved!"

21For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning; Astonishment has taken hold of me. 22Is there no balm in Gilead, Is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery For the health of the daughter of my people?

Next October 11 Reading

Jeremiah 9

October 12

J EREMIAH 9:1–10:25

1Oh, that my head were waters,

9:1 waters,…tears. Jeremiah cared so greatly that he longed for the relief of flooding tears or a place of retreat to be free of the burden of Judah's sins for a while.

And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people! 2Oh, that I had in the wilderness A lodging place for travelers; That I might leave my people, And go from them! For they are all adulterers, An assembly of treacherous men.

3"And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me," says the LORD. 4"Everyone take heed to his neighbor, And do not trust any brother; For every brother will utterly supplant, And every neighbor will walk with slanderers.

5Everyone will deceive his neighbor, And will not speak the truth; They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves to commit iniquity. 6Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me," says the LORD. 7Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: "Behold, I will refine them and try them;

For how shall I deal with the daughter of My people? 8Their tongue is an arrow shot out; It speaks deceit; One speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, But in his heart he lies in wait. 9Shall I not punish them for these things?" says the LORD. "Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?" 10I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, And for the dwelling places of the wilderness a lamentation, Because they are burned up, So that no one can pass through; Nor can men hear the voice of the cattle. Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled; They are gone.

11"I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant."

12Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through?

13And the LORD said, "Because they have forsaken My law which I set

before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, 14but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them," 15therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. 16I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them."

THE PEOPLE MOURN IN JUDGMENT

17Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider and call for the mourning women, That they may come; And send for skillful wailing women, That they may come. 18Let them make haste And take up a wailing for us, That our eyes may run with tears, And our eyelids gush with water. 19For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: 'How we are plundered! We are greatly ashamed, Because we have forsaken the land, Because we have been cast out of our dwellings.' "

20Yet hear the word of the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters wailing, And everyone her neighbor a lamentation. 21For death has come through our windows, Has entered our palaces, To kill off the children— no longer to be outside! And the young men— no longer on the streets!

LORD, O women, And let your ear receive the

22Speak, "Thus says the LORD:

'Even the carcasses of men shall fall as refuse on the open field, Like cuttings after the harvester, And no one shall gather them.' "

23Thus says the LORD:

"Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; 24But let him who glories glory in

this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness

in the earth. For in these I delight," says the LORD.

25"Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that I will punish all who

are circumcised with the uncircumcised— 26Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart."

Jeremiah 10

IDOLS AND THE TRUE GOD

1Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2Thus says the LORD:

"Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, For the Gentiles are dismayed at them. 3For the customs of the peoples are futile; For one cuts a tree from the forest, The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. 4They decorate it with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers So that it will not topple. 5They are upright, like a palm tree, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, For they cannot do evil, Nor can they do any good."

6Inasmuch as there is none like You, O LORD

(You are great, and Your name is great in might), 7Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?

10:7 King. God, who sovereignly created and controls all things (vv. 12, 16; Deut. 4:35), is alone the eternal, living God (Pss. 47; 145) worthy of trust. By contrast, earthly idols have to be fashioned by men (v. 9) and will perish (v. 15).

For this is Your rightful due. For among all the wise men of the nations,

And in all their kingdoms, There is none like You. 8But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish; A wooden idol is a worthless doctrine. 9Silver is beaten into plates; It is brought from Tarshish, And gold from Uphaz,

The work of the craftsman And of the hands of the metalsmith; Blue and purple are their clothing; They are all the work of skillful men. 10But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth will tremble, And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.

11Thus you shall say to them: "The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens."

12He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, And has stretched out the heavens at His discretion. 13When He utters His voice, There is a multitude of waters in the heavens: "And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, He brings the wind out of His treasuries."a

14Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge; Every metalsmith is put to shame by an image; For his molded image is falsehood, And there is no breath in them. 15They are futile, a work of errors; In the time of their punishment they shall perish. 16The Portion of Jacob is not like them, For He is the Maker of all things, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; The LORD of hosts is His name.

THE COMING CAPTIVITY OF JUDAH

17Gather up your wares from the land, O inhabitant of the fortress!

18For thus says the LORD:

"Behold, I will throw out at this time The inhabitants of the land, And will distress them, That they may find it so."

19Woe is me for my hurt! My wound is severe. But I say, "Truly this is an infirmity, And I must bear it." 20My tent is plundered, And all my cords are broken; My children have gone from me, And they are no more. There is no one to pitch my tent anymore, Or set up my curtains.

21For the shepherds have become dull-hearted, And have not sought the LORD; Therefore they shall not prosper, And all their flocks shall be scattered. 22Behold, the noise of the report has come, And a great commotion out of the north country, To make the cities of Judah desolate, a den of jackals.

23O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. 24O LORD, correct me, but with justice; Not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing. 25Pour out Your fury on the Gentiles, who do not know You, And on the families who do not call on Your name; For they have eaten up Jacob,

Devoured him and consumed him, And made his dwelling place desolate.

Next October 12 Reading

Jeremiah 11

October 13

J EREMIAH 11:1–12:17

THE BROKEN COVENANT

1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2"Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 3and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel: "Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant 4which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, 'Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God,' 5that I may establish the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them 'a land flowing with milk and honey,'a as it is this day." ' "

And I answered and said, "So be it, LORD." 6Then the LORD said to me, "Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: 'Hear the words of this covenant and do

them. 7For I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this day, rising early and exhorting, saying, "Obey My

voice." 8Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone followed the dictates of his evil heart; therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done.' "

9And the LORD said to me, "A conspiracy has been found among the men

of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers."

11Therefore thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to escape; and though they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them. 12Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. 13For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.

14"So do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble.

15"What has My beloved to do in My house,

11:15 My beloved. A phrase showing God's sensitive regard for His relationship to Israel as a nation (2:2; 12:7). It does not carry the assumption, however, that every individual is spiritually saved (5:10a). lewd deeds. Shameful idolatry that defiled all that befits true temple worship, such as the examples in Ezekiel 8:6–13. These were gross violations of the first 3 commandments (Ex. 20:2–7). holy flesh. In some way, they corrupted the animal sacrifices by committing sin which they enjoyed.

Having done lewd deeds with many? And the holy flesh has passed from you. When you do evil, then you rejoice. 16The LORD called your name, Green Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good Fruit. With the noise of a great tumult He has kindled fire on it, And its branches are broken.

17"For the LORD of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal."

JEREMIAH'S LIFE THREATENED

18Now the LORD gave me knowledge of it, and I know it; for You showed me

their doings. 19But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, "Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more."

20But, O LORD of hosts, You who judge righteously, Testing the mind and the heart, Let me see Your vengeance on them, For to You I have revealed my cause.

21"Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth who seek your life, saying, 'Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, lest you die by our hand'— 22therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine; 23and there shall be no remnant of them, for I will bring catastrophe on the men of Anathoth, even the year of their punishment.' "

Jeremiah 12

JEREMIAH'S QUESTION

1Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead with You; Yet let me talk with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously? 2You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; They grow, yes, they bear fruit. You are near in their mouth But far from their mind.

3But You, O LORD, know me; You have seen me, And You have tested my heart toward You. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, And prepare them for the day of slaughter. 4How long will the land mourn, And the herbs of every field wither? The beasts and birds are consumed, For the wickedness of those who dwell there, Because they said, "He will not see our final end."

THE LORD ANSWERS JEREMIAH

5"If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you,

12:5 If you have run. The Lord replied to Jeremiah telling him that if he grew faint with lesser trials and felt like quitting, what would he do when the battle got even harder? floodplain of the Jordan. The river in flood stage overflowed its banks into a plain that grew up as a thicket. The point is that Jeremiah needed

to be ready to deal with tougher testings, pictured by the invader's overwhelming the land like a flood, or posing high danger as in the Jordan thicket where concealed wild animals could terrify a person.

Then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, In which you trusted, they wearied you, Then how will you do in the floodplaina of the Jordan? 6For even your brothers, the house of your father, Even they have dealt treacherously with you; Yes, they have called a multitude after you. Do not believe them, Even though they speak smooth words to you.

7"I have forsaken My house, I have left My heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies. 8My heritage is to Me like a lion in the forest; It cries out against Me; Therefore I have hated it. 9My heritage is to Me like a speckled vulture; The vultures all around are against her. Come, assemble all the beasts of the field, Bring them to devour!

10"Many rulersa have destroyed My vineyard, They have trodden My portion underfoot; They have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. 11They have made it desolate; Desolate, it mourns to Me; The whole land is made desolate, Because no one takes it to heart. 12The plunderers have come On all the desolate heights in the wilderness, For the sword of the LORD shall devour From one end of the land to the other end of the land; No flesh shall

have peace. 13They have sown wheat but reaped thorns; They have put themselves to pain but do not profit.

But be ashamed of your harvest Because of the fierce anger of the LORD."

14Thus says the LORD: "Against all My evil neighbors who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit—behold, I will pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. 15Then it shall be, after I have plucked them out, that I will return and have compassion on them and bring them back, everyone to his heritage and everyone to his land. 16And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, to swear by My name, 'As the LORD lives,' as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be established in the midst of My people. 17But if they do not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation," says the LORD.

Next October 13 Reading

Jeremiah 13

October 14

J EREMIAH 13:1–14:22

SYMBOL OF THE LINEN SASH

1Thus the LORD said to me: "Go and get yourself a linen sash, and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water." 2So I got a sash according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist.

13:1 a linen sash. One of several signs Jeremiah enacted to illustrate God's message involved putting a linen sash (generally the inner garment against the skin) around his waist. This depicted Israel's close intimacy with God in the covenant, so that they could glorify Him (v. 11). do not put it in water. Signified the moral filth of the nation. Buried and allowed time to rot (v. 7), the sash pictured Israel as useless to God due to sin (v. 10). Hiding it by the Euphrates (v. 6) pointed to the land of Babylon, where God would exile Israel to deal with her pride (v. 9).

3And the word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, 4"Take the sash that you acquired, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates,a and hide it there in a hole in the rock." 5So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.

6Now it came to pass after many days that the LORD said to me, "Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the sash which I commanded you to hide there." 7Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the sash from the place where I had hidden it; and there was the sash, ruined. It was profitable for nothing.

8Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 9"Thus says the LORD: 'In this

manner I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who follow the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just

like this sash which is profitable for nothing. 11For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,' says the LORD, 'that they may become My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.'

SYMBOL OF THE WINE BOTTLES

12"Therefore you shall speak to them this word: 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel: "Every bottle shall be filled with wine." '

And they will say to you, 'Do we not certainly know that every bottle will be filled with wine?'

13"Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the

prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness! 14And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together," says the LORD. "I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy, but will destroy them." ' "

PRIDE PRECEDES CAPTIVITY

15Hear and give ear: Do not be proud, For the LORD has spoken. 16Give glory to the LORD your God Before He causes darkness,

And before your feet stumble On the dark mountains, And while you are looking for light, He turns it into the shadow of death And makes it dense darkness. 17But if you will not hear it, My soul will weep in secret for your pride;

My eyes will weep bitterly And run down with tears, Because the LORD's flock has been taken captive.

18Say to the king and to the queen mother, "Humble yourselves; Sit down, For your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory." 19The cities of the South shall be shut up, And no one shall open them; Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it; It shall be wholly carried away captive.

20Lift up your eyes and see Those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, Your beautiful sheep? 21What will you say when He punishes you?

For you have taught them To be chieftains, to be head over you. Will not pangs seize you, Like a woman in labor? 22And if you say in your heart, "Why have these things come upon me?" For the greatness of your iniquity Your skirts have been uncovered, Your heels made bare. 23Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.

24"Therefore I will scatter them like stubble That passes away by the wind of the wilderness. 25This is your lot, The portion of your measures from Me," says the LORD, "Because

you have forgotten Me And trusted in falsehood. 26Therefore I will uncover your skirts over your face, That your shame may appear. 27I have seen your adulteries And your lustful neighings, The lewdness of your harlotry, Your abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! Will you still not be made clean?"

Jeremiah 14

SWORD, FAMINE, AND PESTILENCE

1The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts.

2"Judah mourns, And her gates languish; They mourn for the land, And the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. 3Their nobles have sent their lads for water; They went to the cisterns and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty;

They were ashamed and confounded And covered their heads. 4Because the ground is parched, For there was no rain in the land, The plowmen were ashamed; They covered their heads. 5Yes, the deer also gave birth in the field, But left because there was no grass. 6And the wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights; They sniffed at the wind like jackals; Their eyes failed because there was no grass."

7O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, Do it for Your name's sake; For our backslidings are many, We have sinned against You. 8O the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble, Why should You be like a stranger in the land, And like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night? 9Why should You be like a man astonished, Like a mighty one who cannot save? Yet You, O LORD, are in our midst, And we are called by Your name; Do not leave us!

10Thus says the LORD to this people: "Thus they have loved to wander; They have not restrained their feet. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; He will remember their iniquity now, And punish their sins."

11Then the LORD said to me, "Do not pray for this people, for their good. 12When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence."

13Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets say to them, 'You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.' "

14And the LORD said to me, "The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not

sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false

vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart. 15Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, and who say, 'Sword and famine shall not be in this land'—'By

sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed! 16And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; they will have no one to bury them—them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters—for I will pour their wickedness on them.'

17"Therefore you shall say this word to them:

'Let my eyes flow with tears night and day, And let them not cease; For the virgin daughter of my people Has been broken with a mighty stroke, with a very severe blow. 18If I go out to the field, Then behold, those slain with the sword! And if I enter the city, Then behold, those sick from famine! Yes, both prophet and priest go about in a land they do not know.' "

THE PEOPLE PLEAD FOR MERCY

19Have You utterly rejected Judah? Has Your soul loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but there was no good; And for the time of healing, and there was trouble. 20We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness And the iniquity of our fathers, For we have sinned against You. 21Do not abhor us, for Your name's sake; Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory. Remember, do not break Your covenant with us. 22Are there any among the idols of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are You not He, O LORD our God? Therefore we will wait for You, Since You have made all these.

Next October 14 Reading

Jeremiah 15

October 15

J EREMIAH 15:1–16:21

THE LORD WILL NOT RELENT

1Then the LORD said to me, "Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth. 2And it shall be, if they say to you, 'Where should we go?' then you shall tell them, 'Thus says the LORD:

15:1–9 It was ineffective at this point to intercede for the nation. Even prayers by Moses (Num. 14:11–25) and Samuel (1 Sam. 12:19–25), eminent in intercession, would not defer judgment, where unrepentance persists. Chief among things provoking judgment was the intense sin of King Manasseh. Noted in v. 4, this provocation is recounted in 2 Kings 21:1–18, 2 Kings 23:26, which says the Lord did not relent from His anger because of this.

"Such as are for death, to death; And such as are for the sword, to the sword; And such as are for the famine, to the famine; And such as are for the captivity, to the captivity." '

3"And I will appoint over them four forms of destruction," says the LORD: "the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 4I will hand them over to trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

5"For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to ask how you are doing? 6You have forsaken Me," says the LORD, "You have gone backward. Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am weary of relenting! 7And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children; I will destroy My people, Since they do not return from their ways. 8Their widows will be increased to Me more than the sand of the seas; I will bring against them, Against the mother of the young men, A plunderer at noonday; I will cause anguish and terror to fall on them suddenly.

9"She languishes who has borne seven; She has breathed her last;

Her sun has gone down While it was yet day; She has been ashamed and confounded. And the remnant of them I will deliver to the sword Before their enemies," says the LORD.

JEREMIAH'S DEJECTION

10Woe is me, my mother, That you have borne me, A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent for interest, Nor have men lent to me for interest. Every one of them curses me.

11The LORD said:

"Surely it will be well with your remnant; Surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with you In the time of adversity and in the time of affliction. 12Can anyone break iron, The northern iron and the bronze? 13Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder without price, Because of all your sins, Throughout your territories. 14And I will make you cross over witha your enemies Into a land which you do not know; For a fire is kindled in My anger, Which shall burn upon you."

15O LORD, You know; Remember me and visit me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In Your enduring patience, do not take me away. Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke. 16Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.

17I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, Nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because of Your hand, For You have filled me with indignation. 18Why is my pain perpetual And my wound incurable, Which refuses to be healed? Will You surely be to me like an unreliable stream, As waters that fail?

THE LORD REASSURES JEREMIAH

19Therefore thus says the LORD: "If you return, Then I will bring you back; You shall stand before Me; If you take out the precious from the vile, You shall be as My mouth. Let them return to you, But you must not return to them. 20And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; And they will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you; For I am with you to save you And deliver you," says the LORD. 21"I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, And I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible."

Jeremiah 16

JEREMIAH'S LIFE-STYLE AND MESSAGE

1The word of the LORD also came to me, saying, 2"You shall not take a wife,

nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place." 3For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land: 4"They shall die gruesome deaths; they shall not be lamented nor shall they be buried, but they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their corpses shall be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth."

16:2 You shall not take a wife. Since destruction and exile are soon to fall on Judah, the prophet must not have a wife and family. God's kindness will keep him from anxiety over them in the awful situation of suffering and death (v. 4).

5For thus says the LORD: "Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people," says the LORD, "lovingkindness and mercies. 6Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; neither shall men lament for them, cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them. 7Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or their mother. 8Also you shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink."

9For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will cause to

cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

10"And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, 'Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our

God?' 11then you shall say to them, 'Because your fathers have forsaken Me,' says the LORD; 'they have walked after other gods and have served them and

worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law. 12And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his

own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me. 13Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.'

GOD WILL RESTORE ISRAEL

14"Therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that it shall no more be said, 'The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,' 15but, 'The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.' For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.

16"Behold, I will send for many fishermen," says the LORD, "and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. 17For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes. 18And first I will repay double for their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable idols."

19O LORD, my strength and my fortress, My refuge in the day of affliction, The Gentiles shall come to You From the ends of the earth and say, "Surely our fathers have inherited lies, Worthlessness and unprofitable things." 20Will a man make gods for himself, Which are not gods?

21"Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know My hand and My might; And they shall know that My name is the LORD.

Next October 15 Reading

Jeremiah 17

October 16

J EREMIAH 17:1–18:23

JUDAH'S SIN AND PUNISHMENT

1"The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron;

17:1 The sin of Judah. Reasons for the judgment continue here: 1) idolatry (vv. 1–4), 2) relying on the flesh (v. 5), and 3) dishonesty in amassing wealth (v. 11). pen of iron. The names of idols were engraved on the horns of their altars with such a tool. The idea is that Judah's sin was permanent, etched in them as if into stone. How much different to have God's word written on the heart.

With the point of a diamond it is engraved On the tablet of their heart, And on the horns of your altars, 2While their children remember Their altars and their wooden imagesa

By the green trees on the high hills. 3O My mountain in the field, I will give as plunder your wealth, all your treasures, And your high places of sin within all your borders. 4And you, even yourself, Shall let go of your heritage which I gave you; And I will cause you to serve your enemies

In the land which you do not know; For you have kindled a fire in My anger which shall burn forever."

5Thus says the LORD:

"Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD. 6For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited.

7"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD. 8For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not feara when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

9"The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? 10I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.

11"As a partridge that broods but does not hatch, So is he who gets riches, but not by right; It will leave him in the midst of his days, And at his end he will be a fool."

12A glorious high throne from the beginning Is the place of our sanctuary. 13O LORD, the hope of Israel, All who forsake You shall be ashamed. "Those who depart from Me Shall be written in the earth, Because they have forsaken the LORD, The fountain of living waters."

JEREMIAH PRAYS FOR DELIVERANCE

14Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise. 15Indeed they say to me, "Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come now!" 16As for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd who follows You, Nor have I desired the woeful day; You know what came out of my lips; It was right there before You. 17Do not be a terror to me; You are my hope in the day of doom. 18Let them be ashamed who persecute me, But do not let me be put to shame; Let them be dismayed, But do not let me be dismayed. Bring on them the day of doom, And destroy them with double destruction!

HALLOW THE SABBATH DAY

19Thus the LORD said to me: "Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates

of Jerusalem; 20and say to them, 'Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah,

and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates. 21Thus says the LORD: "Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the

Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; 22nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I

commanded your fathers. 23But they did not obey nor incline their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction.

24"And it shall be, if you heed Me carefully," says the LORD, "to bring no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the

Sabbath day, to do no work in it, 25then shall enter the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, accompanied by the men of Judah and the

inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever. 26And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the lowland, from the mountains and from the South, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of the LORD.

27"But if you will not heed Me to hallow the Sabbath day, such as not carrying a burden when entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched." ' "

Jeremiah 18

THE POTTER AND THE CLAY

1The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: 2"Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My words." 3Then I went

down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. 4And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.

18:2–6 potter's house. God sent Jeremiah to a potter, who gave him an illustration by shaping a vessel. The prophet secured a vessel and used it for his own illustration (19:1ff.). Jeremiah watched the potter at his wheel. The soft clay became misshapen, but the potter shaped it back into a good vessel. God will so do with Judah if she repents.

5Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: 6"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?" says the LORD. "Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! 7The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, 8if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. 9And the instant I

speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, 10if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.

11"Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the LORD: "Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good." ' "

GOD'S WARNING REJECTED

12And they said, "That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one obey the dictates of his evil heart."

18:12 That is hopeless! Jeremiah brought the inhabitants of Jerusalem to the point where they actually stated their condition honestly. The prophet's threats were useless because they were so far gone abandoned to their sins and the penalty. All hypocrisy was abandoned in favor of honesty, without repentance. Repentance was not in Israel (v. 18; 19:15). This explains a seeming paradox, that Israel can repent and avert judgment, yet Jeremiah is not to pray for Israel (7:16; 11:14). It would do no good to pray for their change since they steeled themselves against any change.

13Therefore thus says the LORD: "Ask now among the Gentiles, Who has heard such things? The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing. 14Will a man leave the snow water of Lebanon, Which comes from the rock of the field? Will the cold flowing waters be forsaken for strange waters? 15"Because My people have forgotten Me, They have burned incense to worthless idols. And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways, From the ancient paths, To walk in pathways and not on a highway, 16To make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing; Everyone who passes by it will be astonished And shake his head. 17I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show thema the back and not the face In the day of their calamity."

JEREMIAH PERSECUTED

18Then they said, "Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words."

19Give heed to me, O LORD, And listen to the voice of those who contend with me! 20Shall evil be repaid for good? For they have dug a pit for my life. Remember that I stood before You To speak good for them, To turn away Your wrath from them. 21Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, And pour out their blood By the force of the sword; Let their wives become widows And bereaved of their children. Let their men be put to death, Their young men be slain By the sword in battle. 22Let a cry be heard from their houses, When You bring a troop suddenly upon them; For they have dug a pit to take me, And hidden snares for my feet. 23Yet, LORD, You know all their counsel Which is against me, to slay me. Provide no atonement for their iniquity, Nor blot out their sin from Your sight; But let them be overthrown before You. Deal thus with them In the time of Your anger.

Next October 16 Reading

Jeremiah 19

October 17

J EREMIAH 19:1–20:18

THE SIGN OF THE BROKEN FLASK

1Thus says the LORD: "Go and get a potter's earthen flask, and take some

of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests. 2And go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the Potsherd Gate; and proclaim there the words that I will tell you, 3and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will bring such a catastrophe on this place, that whoever hears of it, his ears will tingle.

4"Because they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the

innocents 5(they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come

into My mind), 6therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that this place shall no more be called Tophet or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the

Valley of Slaughter. 7And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those who seek their lives; their corpses I will give as meat for the

birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. 8I will make this city desolate and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of

all its plagues. 9And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and in the desperation with which their enemies

and those who seek their lives shall drive them to despair." '

10"Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, 11and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, which cannot be made

whole again; and they shall bury them in Tophet till there is no place to bury. 12Thus I will do to this place," says the LORD, "and to its inhabitants, and make

this city like Tophet. 13And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled like the place of Tophet, because of all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and poured out drink offerings to other gods." ' "

14Then Jeremiah came from Tophet, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy;

and he stood in the court of the Lord's house and said to all the people, 15"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I will bring on this city and on all her towns all the doom that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks that they might not hear My words.' "

Jeremiah 20

THE WORD OF GOD TO PASHHUR

1Now Pashhur the son of Immer, the priest who was also chief governor in

the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. 2Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.

20:2 struck Jeremiah. Pashur or others acting on his authority delivered 40 lashes (see Deut. 25:3) to the prophet. put him in the stocks. Hands, feet, and neck were fastened in holes, bending the body to a distorted posture, causing excruciating pain. high gate. The northern gate of the upper temple court.

3And it happened on the next day that Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, "The LORD has not called your name Pashhur,

but Magor-Missabib.a 4For thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon and slay them with the

sword. 5Moreover I will deliver all the wealth of this city, all its produce, and all its precious things; all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of

their enemies, who will plunder them, seize them, and carry them to Babylon. 6And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. You shall go to Babylon, and there you shall die, and be buried there, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied lies.' "

JEREMIAH'S UNPOPULAR MINISTRY

7O LORD, You induced me, and I was persuaded; You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I am in derision daily; Everyone mocks me. 8For when I spoke, I cried out; I shouted, "Violence and plunder!" Because the word of the LORD was made to me A reproach and a derision daily. 9Then I said, "I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name." But His word was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not. 10For I heard many mocking: "Fear on every side!" "Report," they say, "and we will report it!" All my acquaintances watched for my stumbling, saying, "Perhaps he can be induced; Then we will prevail against him, And we will take our revenge on him."

11But the LORD is with me as a mighty, awesome One. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail. They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper. Their everlasting confusion will never be forgotten. 12But, O LORD of hosts, You who test the righteous, And see the mind and heart, Let me see Your vengeance on them; For I have pleaded my cause before You.

13Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD! For He has delivered the life of the poor From the hand of evildoers.

14Cursed be the day in which I was born! Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me!

15Let the man be cursed Who brought news to my father, saying, "A male child has been born to you!" Making him very glad. 16And let that man be like the cities Which the LORD overthrew, and did not relent; Let him hear the cry in the morning And the shouting at noon, 17Because he did not kill me from the womb, That my mother might have been my grave, And her womb always enlarged with me. 18Why did I come forth from the womb to see labor and sorrow, That my days should be consumed with shame?

Next October 17 Reading

Jeremiah 21

October 18

J EREMIAH 21:1–22:30

JERUSALEM'S DOOM IS SEALED

1The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying, 2"Please inquire of the LORD for us, for Nebuchadnezzara king of Babylon makes war against us. Perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, that the king may go away from us."

3Then Jeremiah said to them, "Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, 4'Thus says the

LORD God of Israel: "Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your

hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeansa who

besiege you outside the walls; and I will assemble them in the midst of this city. 5I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm,

even in anger and fury and great wrath. 6I will strike the inhabitants of this city,

both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence. 7And afterward," says the LORD, "I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence and the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword. He shall not spare them, or have pity or mercy." '

8"Now you shall say to this people, 'Thus says the LORD: "Behold, I set before

you the way of life and the way of death. 9He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and defects to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be as a prize to

him. 10For I have set My face against this city for adversity and not for good," says the LORD. "It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire." '

MESSAGE TO THE HOUSE OF DAVID

11"And concerning the house of the king of Judah, say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, 12O house of David! Thus says the LORD: "Execute judgment in the morning;

And deliver him who is plundered Out of the hand of the oppressor, Lest My fury go forth like fire And burn so that no one can quench it, Because of the evil of your doings.

13"Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, And rock of the plain," says the LORD, "Who say, 'Who shall come down against us? Or who shall enter our dwellings?' 14But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings," says the LORD; "I will kindle a fire in its forest, And it shall devour all things around it." ' "

Jeremiah 22

1Thus says the LORD: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there

speak this word, 2and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter

these gates! 3Thus says the LORD: "Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in

this place. 4For if you indeed do this thing, then shall enter the gates of this house, riding on horses and in chariots, accompanied by servants and people,

kings who sit on the throne of David. 5But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself," says the LORD, "that this house shall become a desolation." ' "

6For thus says the LORD to the house of the king of Judah: "You are Gilead to Me,

The head of Lebanon; Yet I surely will make you a wilderness, Cities which are not inhabited. 7I will prepare destroyers against you, Everyone with his weapons; They shall cut down your choice cedars And cast them into the fire.

8And many nations will pass by this city; and everyone will say to his

neighbor, 'Why has the LORD done so to this great city?' 9Then they will answer, 'Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshiped other gods and served them.' "

10Weep not for the dead, nor bemoan him; Weep bitterly for him who goes away, For he shall return no more, Nor see his native country.

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